Bleeding Heart
by Krayzee Aussie
Summary: Sequel to 'Silent Heart'. After waking from 70 years in the ice, Steve finds the world has changed, his team is gone. Now, working for SHIELD, he finds a new enemy to fight, but no allies he trusts. Or...is he wrong? Set in CA:TWS. Please read 'Silent Heart' before reading this fic.
1. Wiped From Existence

**Hey hey! **

**Back again with the follow up story to 'Silent Heart' as promised. Here, we follow the timeline of 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'**

**I'm going to apologise in advance, this first chapter is really long! It just didn't seem appropriate anywhere else to cut it.**

**If you've stumbled across this fic for the first time and haven't read 'Silent Heart', I would highly recommend you go and find it because otherwise some of the stuff that's happening here might not make sense to you.**

**And with that, please enjoy**

**xo**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Wiped from Existence**

Steve ran through the Washington Monument park, which had become his daily morning ritual since being transferred to Washington DC by SHIELD.

Life had taken a strange turn after the events of that fateful day in World War II. He had found himself waking up seventy years later after crashing the Valkyrie into the icy waters. The ice had kept him alive, shutting down his body, with the help of the super serum created by Abraham Erskine.

When he woke, he was in a different time, the war had been won, more wars had been fought and the world had moved on. His friends had all passed on, but for one. Peggy Carter was still alive, but she was not the woman she once was. Age had taken its hold on her, and her mind was being lost to it. While she had moments of clarity, more often than not, his visits ended when she had a relapse.

But she too had moved on, marrying, having a family and founding an organization off the back of the SSR of their time. SHIELD, Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division, was created by Peggy, Howard Stark and Colonel Chester Phillips. It was formed to protect the United States and her allies from all possible threats.

He had since found that these threats extended as far reaching as other galaxies and realms, as aliens attacked New York under the leadership of an Asgardian god by the name of Loki.

And then, he found out that the world was now filled with other superheroes, such as Howard Stark's son, Tony. He went by the name of Iron Man, utilizing a superior tech suit he had developed himself. He was the spitting image of his father, and just as smart, albeit the ego might have been superior.

Steve huffed as he began another lap, spotting a jogger in the distance. They were moving at a slower pace to him, so as he approached from behind, he called out ahead. "On your left!"

The jogger acknowledged him by way of shifting over to the right a little further and giving a slight wave of the hand.

Steve smiled to himself, appreciative of the courtesy by the jogger.

He continued to jog on, although if you were watching him from the outside, you could probably mistake him for sprinting in comparison to the other runners out of a morning.

After being thawed from the deep freeze, he had spent a lot of time trying to adapt to the new world. As he had done so, he had come to think of his former Lieutenant, Sarah Jones. She had lived through many centuries and had probably had to adapt to many changes in the world, and he found himself wondering how she had done it. Then again, she hadn't had to wake up from a seventy-year snooze and find out everything had changed and then some, she had to adapt as it happened. He wondered what had happened to her, if she had lived through the explosion as she had taken down one of the bombers from the Valkyrie, and if she did, where was she now?

She had told them on numerous occasions that nothing could kill her but a wooden stake to the heart. He wondered if perhaps she was wrong. Surely, if she had lived through the mission, upon hearing that he was alive, she would have come to find him, or gone back to work for Peggy and Colonel Phillips. He glanced up at the memorial as he passed it by again, thinking of the dark-haired vampire he had counted on numerous times.

Steve had almost completed another loop, when he saw the courteous jogger he had passed earlier up ahead. As he approached, he called out again. "On your left!"

"Uh-huh, on my left. Got it," the jogger muttered as Steve ran past, making him grin as he sped past. He was beginning to enjoy this morning's run. He sped up a little, hoping that he might be able to get another lap done and pass the jogger again, just for the fun of it. Usually he only did twelve laps, but he was enjoying himself today.

He approached the jogger from behind again, getting a little closer than the last few times. He noticed the jogger glance back at him and begin to speed up himself.

"Don't say it! Don't you say it!" he shouted, trying to keep ahead of Steve.

Steve grinned, before turning on the pace and moving to pass the other jogger. "On your left!"

The jogger groaned loudly, before trying to sprint after Steve. "Come on!" He heard his footsteps stop after only a few metres, making Steve glance back over his shoulder and grin. He completed the lap and slowed to a warm down walk, looking around for the jogger. He felt the need to thank the man for making his morning exercise a little more entertaining than usual.

He found the man sitting under a tree off to one side of the Memorial Lake. Steve strode over, looking down at the man with a smile as he looked up at Steve. "Need a medic?"

The man laughed, shaking his head. "I need a new set of lungs. Dude, you just ran like 13 miles in 30 minutes."

Steve put his hands on his hips and looked back at the lake with a laugh. "I guess I got a late start."

The man scoffed. "Oh, really? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap," he replied wryly, motioning to the path. He paused for a moment before continuing. "Did you just take it? I assume you just took it."

Steve grinned down at the man as he leant back against the tree, laughing at his own joke. As he did, he spotted the insignia on the man's shirt. He recognized it as a military insignia. "What unit you with?"

"58, Pararescue," the man replied, a tinge of pride to his response. "But now I'm working down at the VA. Sam Wilson."

Steve raised his eyebrows, before offering a hand to Sam, who accepted it. Steve helped him to his feet. He had heard of the VA before. Veterans Affairs. It was a government agency set up to assist former service person's with life after their service. He'd seen a lot of argument in the media that perhaps they weren't doing enough to help.

He shook Sam's hand once he was on his feet. "Steve Rogers."

Sam smiled back at Steve. "I kind of put that together," he joked, motioning to the path they had just run. "Must have freaked you out coming home after the whole defrosting thing."

Steve sighed, that was an understatement. After waking up for the first time in the staged room, he had bolted from the facility they were keeping him in, running through the streets of New York which were very different to what he remembered. If it hadn't been for the recording of the baseball game that he had already seen, or the agent in his room who didn't fit the appearance of a soldier from that time period, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad. "It takes some getting used to. It's good to meet you, Sam."

Thinking the conversation was over, Steve turned to leave and continue his warm down.

"It's your bed, right?"

Steve stopped and looked back at Sam in confusion. "What's that?"

"Your bed, it's too soft." Steve raised his eyebrows at Sam. He had hit the nail on the head. That was one of the many problems he had to adjusting to the time period. "When I was over there I'd sleep on the ground and use rock for pillows, like a caveman. Now I'm home, lying in my bed, and it's like..."

"Lying on a marshmallow," Steve finished his sentence. He knew exactly what he meant, the only difference was, everything felt different in this time period. Everything had changed from the 40s. "Feel like I'm gonna sink right to the floor."

Sam smiled and nodded.

"How long?" Steve asked, turning back to face Sam.

"Two tours," Sam answered, placing his hands on his hips and looking sympathetically at Steve. "You must miss the good old days, huh?"

Steve thought about it for a few seconds. "Well, things aren't so bad. Food's a lot better, we used to boil everything. No polio is good. Internet, so helpful. I've been reading that a lot trying to catch up." That was an understatement. He had a little notebook that he was using to write down things to research when he had a chance. It just seemed to grow more than it shrunk every day.

Sam grinned. "Marvin Gaye, 1972, "Trouble Man" soundtrack. Everything you've missed jammed into one album."

Steve grinned as he pulled out the notebook. "I'll put it on the list." He penned it in under _Rocky (Rocky II?)_

As he finished writing, he heard his phone go off, pulling it out of his pocket. He checked the screen. It was from Agent Romanoff. _Mission alert. Extraction imminent. Meet at the curb. :)_

Steve sighed, clearing the message before looking back to Sam. "Alright, Sam, duty calls. Thanks for the run. If that's what you wanna call running," he added teasingly as he offered a hand to Sam.

Sam guffawed but accepted the hand to shake. "Oh, that's how it is?"

He grinned back to the former soldier. "Oh, that's how it is."

Sam laughed. "Okay. Any time you wanna stop by the VA, make me look awesome in front of the girl at the front desk, just let me know," Sam said with a wink as they began walking towards the road together.

Steve smiled. "I'll keep it in mind."

"Okay."

As they reached the roadside, a sleek black car approached, pulling to a stop in front of them. The passenger side window rolled down, revealing a red headed woman with pale skin and piercing blue eyes.

"Hey, fellas. Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a fossil," she said, looking between the two of them. Steve put his hands on his hips and sighed, shaking his head at the woman. It was Agent Natasha Romanoff, she was essentially his partner at SHIELD. They partook in missions together at Nicholas Fury's request.

"That's hilarious," he responded flatly. She grinned at him before looking over at Sam while Steve moved to get into the passenger seat.

Sam looked over the car appreciatively and then at Natasha. "How you doing?"

"Hey," Natasha responded flirtatiously, smirking at the man. He had seen that look on her before, it was the look she got when she wanted to mess with a man's head. That was dangerous territory.

Steve shut the door to the car and looked back at Sam. "Can't run everywhere."

Sam grinned at Steve. "No, you can't."

Natasha drove away, heading towards the SHIELD headquarters.

* * *

Steve strolled through the Captain America and Howling Commandos exhibition in the Smithsonian. He had been here many times already. It's where he went when he was feeling disheartened with society and the direction it was heading. It's where he felt he could be closer to his former colleagues and friends.

"_A symbol to the nation. A hero to the world. The story of Captain America is one of honor, bravery and sacrifice," _a recorded narration said from overhead.

He had decided to visit the Smithsonian after his mission for SHIELD because he was feeling very disgruntled and angry at the way the organization seemed to be playing things. Even during the attack on New York by Loki and the Chitauri, Fury and SHIELD seemed to think holding a gun pointed at civilization was a better form of protection than any other. It just didn't sit right with him.

During their last mission, he had caught Agent Romanoff in the midst of gathering intel from the _Leumerian Star_, a SHIELD satellite ship that had been taken hostage by pirates, even though the mission he and the STRIKE team had been given was to save the hostages. Her mission had been given straight from Director Nick Fury himself.

When Steve had confronted Fury about it, he had shown him what the intel was about. _Project Insight_ was all about holding an even bigger stick against all threats to Earth, even taking out those who might threaten the world, without the threat ever actually taking place. And that really didn't sit well with Steve.

A tour group hurried past, chattering excitedly about the exhibition and he was quick to duck his head, pulling his baseball cap down a little bit further. Once they had passed, he walked towards a display that showed Captain America pre-serum, small and gangly, with no muscle mass whatsoever. He had come a long way.

"_Denied enlistment due to poor health, Steven Rogers was chosen for a program unique in the annals of American warfare. One that would transform him into the world's first super soldier."_

As he looked away from the display, he saw a young boy wearing a shirt emblazoned with the Captain America shield, staring at him. He smiled at the boy but moved a finger to his lips in an effort to ask the boy to keep quiet. The last thing he needed was for there to be a mad panic over him being present. The boy stared at him in awe, but copied him, moving his finger to his lips. Steve smiled again and continued walking through the exhibit.

"_Battle tested, Captain America and his Howling Commandos quickly earned their stripes. Their mission, taking down HYDRA, the rogue Nazi science division."_

He stopped to take in each image of his former colleagues that was displayed behind mannequins dressed in each of the Howling Commandos uniforms. Each of these men had now passed away, having returned home after the war and went on to live a full life. He was glad for them.

"_Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steven Rogers were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Barnes is the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country."_

Steve turned and looked towards one of the screens that was playing footage from the SSR media team, showing he and Bucky laughing at something that was said to them. He remembered the moment well. The cameraman had asked them to laugh together like they were friends, and both of them had laughed heartily before Bucky proclaimed that they were friends, which just made them laugh felt a pang in his chest as he watched the footage over and over again, longing for his best friend and feeling guilty that he couldn't save him when he really needed it.

He was quick to walk to another part of the exhibition, entering a small Amphitheatre where several different interviews and footage played, all talking about the affect Captain America had had on different people's lives or the memories that they had of Captain America.

He was met with a large screen featuring Agent Margaret Carter's face, smiling as she spoke.

"_That was a difficult winter. A blizzard had trapped half our battalion behind the German line. Steve...Captain Rogers, he fought his way through a HYDRA blockade that had pinned our allies down for months. He saved over a thousand men, including the man who would...who would become my husband as it turned out. Even after he died, Steve was still changing my life."_

Steve felt another pang of regret. He was glad she had found happiness after his disappearance, but all the same, he wished it could have been with him. He pulled out his old compass, opening it and looking down at the photo of Peggy he still kept inside it, staring at it for a short while, until a family entered the small Amphitheatre and sat down in front of him. He was quick to pull his hat back down, ensuring they couldn't see his face clearly, before looking back up at the screens and continuing to watch the footage that played.

It was then that something caught his eye. He was watching footage of the entire troop of Howling Commandos as they gathered around a vehicle, joking and posturing for the camera. A dark shadow, barely noticeable if you weren't paying close attention, seemed to move in the background of the shot, and Steve recognized it instantly. It was Lieutenant Sarah Jones. He had never noticed her darting away in the footage before, and he sighed sadly.

During his first visit to the Smithsonian and the exhibit, he had noticed straight away the lack of information regarding the seventh member of the Howling Commandos. Looking around the exhibit, he had quickly realized that there was absolutely no mention of his second in charge, no photos, no footage. It was as if she had been completely wiped from existence, and that tiny spot of footage he had just seen, was all that was left of her imprint on his team.

He felt his anger rising again, at the thought of the lack of recognition his team-mate had received, quickly standing, turning and hurrying out of the exhibit.

* * *

Steve's next stop was down to the VA. After the day he had, he decided maybe he needed to see a new perspective on things. He greeted the young lady at the reception, asking for directions to Sam Wilson. She smiled brightly at him as she recognized him, gushing slightly, before explaining Sam was hosting a PTSD support meeting, but told him where he could find the former soldier. Steve followed her directions, before stopping in front of a door. He could hear a female voice talking, and raised his eyebrows as he listened in.

"The thing is, I think it's getting worse. A cop pulled me over last week, he thought I was drunk. I swerved to miss a plastic bag. I thought it was an IED."

That was some heavy stuff. The wars these men and women were fighting were slightly different to the war he had fought. Back in his day, they knew exactly who their enemy was and what they looked like. Nowadays, there was no honour, and sly tactics were used, like hidden explosive devices and even children. He took a deep breath as he peered around the doorway.

There was a small group in the room, and Sam stood at the front, looking back at the few veterans that were there.

"Some stuff you leave there, other stuff you bring back. It's our job to figure out how to carry it. Is it gonna be in a big suitcase or in a little man-purse? It's up to you," Sam said, looking around at the veterans with an understanding expression on his face. Steve was impressed.

After the meeting, Steve waited until all the veterans had left before approaching Sam, not wanting to draw attention to himself.

"Look who it is," Sam teased, offering a hand to Steve. "The running man."

Steve took the hand offered and shook it, smiling back, before motioning towards the door he had just entered through. "Caught the last few minutes. It's pretty intense."

"Yeah, brother, we all got the same problems. Guilt, regret."

Steve noted when he mentioned the word guilt Sam seemed to speak as if he was talking about himself and no one else. "You lose someone?"

Sam sighed, putting his hands on his hips and looking to the floor for a moment before speaking again. "My wingman, Riley. Flying a night mission. Standard PJ rescue op, nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before, till an RPG knock Riley's dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It's like I was up there just to watch."

Steve sighed, folding his arms. He knew only too well what Sam meant. He had just articulated exactly what he had been feeling like about Bucky's untimely death. "I'm sorry."

Sam shrugged. "After that, I had really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?"

Steve nodded. He could understand the concept. "But you're happy now, back in the world?"

Sam smiled. "Hey, the number of people giving me orders is down to about zero. So, hell, yeah." He looked at Steve curiously. "You thinking about getting out?"

Steve gave a light laugh. That was not something he had ever considered previously. "No. I don't know. To be honest, I don't know what I would do with myself if I did."

"Ultimate fighting?" Sam suggested wryly, causing Steve to laugh. He had watched the UFC on tv at the suggestion of the STRIKE team, it was not really his cup of tea. "It's just a great idea off the top of my head. But seriously, you could do whatever you want to do. What makes you happy?"

Steve paused for a moment. He had thought about it many times before, and he had always come to the same conclusion. "I don't know."

The smile on Sam's face faltered slightly, causing Steve to offer him a smile of reassurance. He was well aware that this was probably not a side of Captain America that people would have expected to see. It was not a side of him, that he enjoyed.

Steve returned home after dark, entering his apartment building as the moon appeared over the tops of the buildings. It was a clear night, with a bit of a cold bite to the air. As he walked upstairs to his floor, he heard his neighbour's voice ahead.

"That's so sweet. That is so nice." As he walked closer, he found she was leaving her apartment with a basket full of laundry and her phone held to her ear by her shoulder, obviously headed downstairs to the communal laundry. She used her one free hand to shut her apartment door and then looked up, seeing Steve and smiling. "Hey. I gotta go, though. Okay, bye." She quickly dropped her phone into her now free hand and hung up, her smile brightening even more as Steve drew level with her. He raised an eyebrow, looking at her phone in her hand. "My aunt, she's kind of an insomniac. Yeah."

He smiled back at her. He liked his neighbor, Kate. He wasn't sure if she actually realized he was Captain America, or if perhaps she just didn't care, as she always just treated him like he was just any other person. She was always very friendly, sweet and had a smile for him whenever she ran into him. As far as he knew, she was a nurse at one of the local hospitals.

He noted the large pile of washing in her basket and an idea occurred to him "Hey, if you want...if you want, you're welcome to use my machine. Might be cheaper than the one in the basement?"

She looked down at her washing and raised her eyebrows, smiling as she looked back up at him with a cunning look. "Oh, yeah? What's it cost?"

Steve raised his eyebrows, noting immediately the tone she used to ask the question. It had been a long time since he had to deal with someone flirting with him like that. He gave a light laugh. "A cup of coffee?"

She giggled, before looking down and biting her lip, but then looked seriously at her washing. "Thank you, but um...I already have a load in downstairs, and, uh...you really don't want my scrubs in your machine. I just finished orientation in the infectious diseases ward, so…" she smiled apologetically back at him.

Steve raised his eyebrows. Being a nurse certainly sounded interesting these days. He smiled back at her, pretending to take a half step back. "Ah, well, I'll keep my distance."

She giggled again, before starting to make her way towards the stairs. "Well, hopefully not too far." Steve smiled back at her and turned to unlock his apartment, only for Sharon to call out to him. "Oh, and I think you left your stereo on."

Steve furrowed his brow slightly but was quick to hide his surprise. "Oh. Right, thank you." He watched her for a moment until he was certain she wasn't returning, then turned to his door eyeing it suspiciously. Upon getting closer to his door, he could hear the music playing from inside, and it was indeed one of his many records he had collected since moving out on his own.

He looked to the fire escape that ran from the hallway window and around to his dining area window, before deciding to enter from there and not risk the door, hoping he might catch whomever it was by surprise.

As he slipped into his window, he reached down and grabbed his shield that was lying by his bedroom door, glad for the familiar protection outside of his uniform. He crept through the house, keeping low and quiet in the dark. He turned to look into his living area, and froze, glaring at the figure he found waiting there. Even in the dark, he could tell exactly who it was. "I don't remember giving you a key."

Fury raised an eyebrow, looking back at Steve pointedly. "You really think I'd need one?" Steve looked at him expectantly, straightening and loosening his grip on his shield. "My wife kicked me out."

Steve didn't even bother trying to hide his surprise. "Didn't know you were married."

Fury smirked. "A lot of things you don't about me."

Steve sighed, shaking his head in annoyance. "I know, Nick. That's the problem." He reached across to a nearby wall, flicking on a light switch before looking back to Fury. His mouth fell open slightly as he took in Fury's condition. He was bleeding and it appeared like he had been severely beaten up in one way or another. Fury motioned for him to turn off the light again and Steve was quick to comply. Fury moved a finger to his lips, motioning for Steve to keep quiet, before reaching for a mobile device and typing furiously on it. He turned it for Steve to see.

'_Ears everywhere'_

Steve stared at the writing, before glaring at Fury. "I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash." He turned the mobile device back around and began typing again, turning it back around once he was finished.

'_SHIELD compromised'_

Steve felt a cold chill rush through his body as he read the words over and over again. He finally composed himself enough to speak again. "Who else knows about your wife?"

Fury began typing again. "Just...my friends."

'_You and me'_

Steve raised his eyebrows slightly. For Fury not to have told anyone else about SHIELD being compromised, must have meant that it was compromised in a big way. "Is that what we are?

"That's up to you," Fury replied, looking at him with a pointed expression.

Before Steve could say anything more, three shots rang out, shooting through the wall and all three shots embedding into Fury's chest. The SHIELD director collapsed forwards, while Steve ducked slightly while looking out the window to try and spot the shooter, before grabbing Fury and quickly dragging him into the next room.

Steve moved to try and get help, but Fury reached out, grabbing his arm. He shoved a small metallic stick into his hand, before looking desperately at Steve. "Don't…trust anyone." Steve frowned, looking between Fury and the device in his hand, recognizing it as a USB stick. Before he could ask Fury anything, the man passed out on the floor.

As he moved to check on Fury's vitals, he heard the sound of someone trying to break into his apartment, immediately on alert again, as he heard his door forced open with great force.

"Captain Rogers?" his neighbor called out. Steve furrowed his brow, so she did know who he was. He moved out of the room, on his guard, just in case. She appeared around the corner, a handgun in hand. She looked relieved to see him, before she spoke with authority. "Captain, I'm Agent 13 of SHIELD Special Service."

Steve stared at her wide eyed for a moment. "Kate?"

"I'm assigned to protect you."

Steve was still shocked but managed to compose himself. "On whose order?" he asked, as she moved to check the apartment. As she moved into the next room, she spotted Fury on the floor and gasped quietly.

"His." She quickly moved to check on Fury, while raising a hand to her ear. "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive. I need EMTs."

Steve watched her in awe for a moment, before he heard a quiet voice reply through her ear-piece. "Do you have a twenty on the shooter?" Steve frowned, before looking out the window. He spotted movement, like a flash of a gun barrel catching the light. He clenched his jaw and tightened his grip on his shield.

"Tell them I'm in pursuit." Without waiting for Agent 13's response, Steve crashed through his own apartment window, leaping across to the adjacent building and climbing up the fire escape, before charging through another window.

He found himself in an office building, spotting the shooter on the next building over. He was running with great speed, so Steve was quick to give chase, smashing through walls using his shield as a battering ram in an effort to keep up with the man. Finally, he exploded out of another window, landing on an adjacent roof top and rolling forwards, before landing on his feet. The shooter continued to run, nearing the opposite side of the rooftop, when Steve threw his shield.

To his surprise, the shooter stopped, turned and caught the shield without much effort. Steve immediately noticed the arm the man used to catch the shield appeared to be metallic. The shooter glared at him through icy eyes, that had been blackened around them to give him an even more haunting presence. The shooter reacted quickly, throwing Steve's shield back at him with so much force, as Steve moved to catch it, he was forced back a couple of metres.

As Steve recovered and looked up, the man was gone.

* * *

**xo**

**Krayzee**


	2. Reunion

**Afternoon all,**

**This fic is proving very addictive writing, and I'm already about six chapters in.**

**I'm still going to take my time uploading though...all about that suspense, right?**

**Enjoy**

**xo**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Reunion**

Steve stood watching through the observation window as the doctors worked hastily in the operating theatre. Fury was hooked up to machines, Steve staring at his face, willing him to wake up and make some sarcastic remark at him.

He heard running footsteps down the corridor, heading towards them, and turned around as Natasha burst into the room, her expression devastated as her eyes fell onto the unconscious form of Fury on the operating table.

She moved closer to the window, not even acknowledging Steve, her focus completely on Fury. "Is he gonna make it?" she asked after a moment of silence.

"I don't know."

"Tell me about the shooter," Natasha demanded, still not taking her eyes off of the Director.

"He's fast and strong. Had a metal arm." He noted the slightest of changes in her expression, her brow twitching slightly, but she made no other signal that she had any clue to who they were. Agent Hill soon joined them, also looking through the window, her expression anxious as she watched. "Ballistics?" Natasha asked, the question obviously directed to Agent Hill.

"Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable." Steve furrowed his brow, trying to remember anything else he could about the shooter that stood out to him as he continued to watch the operation currently underway.

"Soviet-made," Natasha said, more than asked.

Hill glanced sideways at Natasha. "Yeah." Steve also looked to Natasha, about to question her on what she knew, when there was a flurry of action in the operating room. All three turned to watch as the doctors and nurses seemed to be rushed suddenly, moving around the operating theatre and grabbing a multitude of things, including something Steve recognized. A defibrillator. Fury was crashing.

"Don't do this to me, Nick," Natasha murmured, staring at the scene before them. Steve felt a tension course through his body as he watched on, he really didn't want to lose someone else that was close to him, even if he and Fury did have a disagreement in the way SHIELD handled things.

"Don't do this to me, Nick. Don't do this to me," Natasha began to mutter under her breath, over and over again. Finally, Steve had to look away, as the doctors seemed to lose their sense of urgency, stepping away from Fury's body.

* * *

Steve stood against the wall, watching as Natasha looked down on Fury's body, crying quietly as she said her goodbye. Agent Hill quietly walked in, glancing from the mourning Natasha to Steve, with an apologetic look on her face.

"They need to take him."

He nodded, before pushing himself off the wall, and slowly walking over to Natasha, stopping beside her. He touched her shoulder, she stiffened slightly, before touching Fury's head tenderly. Before he could stop her, she had turned on her heel and rushed from the room. "Natasha!"

He quickly went after her, leaving Agent Hill to accompany Fury's body. He finally caught her down the hallway, when she spun around and glared at him.

"Why was Fury in your apartment?" she demanded, catching him off guard.

Remembering what Fury had warned him after he had been shot, Steve sighed, looking down before looking back at Natasha. "I don't know."

Before either could say anymore, they were interrupted by Brock Rumlow. He looked apologetically between the pair, obviously aware that he was interrupting something. "Cap, they want you back at SHIELD."

"Yeah, give me a second," Steve replied, looking back at Natasha.

Rumlow cleared his throat. "They want you now."

Steve looked back at Rumlow, who offered him a tight smile. Steve sighed. "Okay." He looked back to Natasha who continued to glower at him.

"You're a terrible liar," she hissed, before turning and storming away down the corridor.

Steve watched her go, still considering what Fury had told him. He put his hand into his pocket, feeling the USB Fury had given him was still there, the gravity of the situation hitting him hard.

He heard chatter coming from Rumlow's earpiece.

"_STRIKE team, escort Captain Rogers back to SHIELD immediately for questioning."_

Rumlow put his hand to his ear and turned away from Steve before responding, albeit in a somewhat annoyed tone. "I told him."

Steve looked to his right and noticed a vending machine, considering it for a moment, before glancing over at the STRIKE team who weren't paying much attention to him, opting to whinge about Sitwell bossing them around in such a manner after the events of the night before.

He strode over to the vending machine, checking the available contents while Rumlow moved back to his team.

After a couple of minutes, Steve picked up a packet of gum from the machine, before walking back towards the STRIKE team. "Let's go."

Rumlow nodded. "Yeah." He turned back to his team. "STRIKE, move it out."

Steve changed into his uniform before heading up to meet with Alexander Pierce. He needed some comfort, and right now, he only felt comfortable in his uniform.

Rumlow lead him to Alexander Pierce's office, nodding to him before he turned to leave. Standing out the front of his office, Pierce was talking to Kate, or as it turned out, Agent 13.

"For whatever it's worth, you did your best," Pierce said, obviously trying to offer her some small comfort. Steve stared coldly at the blonde as he approached.

"Thank you, sir," she replied, before turning to leave. She spotted Steve, bowing her head slightly, as if she couldn't bear to look at him directly. "Captain Rogers," she greeted as she strode past, her heels clicking against the stone floor.

"Neighbor," he replied coldly as he walked past, looking past her. Whether or not she had his best intentions at heart, he couldn't help but feel annoyed at Agent 13. He had really enjoyed having her as a neighbor, and to find out that it had all been a ploy in order to stay close to him for her job, it didn't sit right with him.

Pierce looked to Steve, offering a smile of recognition. "Ah, Captain. I'm Alexander Pierce," he introduced himself.

Steve drew level with Pierce, taking the hand Pierce offered him. "Sir, it's an honor."

Pierce shook his hand firmly. "The honor is mine, Captain. My father served in the 107th. Come on in." Pierce led him into his office, moving to the desk before showing Steve an old photo of himself with Fury. "That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met. When I was at State Department in Bogota. ELN rebels took the embassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages. Nick was deputy chief for the SHIELD station there. And he comes to me with a plan. He wants to storm the building through the sewers." He led Steve into his office, motioning for him to sit in one of the seats in front of his desk. Steve removed his shield from his back, resting it against the chair as he sat down.

Pierce sighed as he remembered the encounter, sitting back in his seat. "I said_, "No, we'll negotiate."_ Turned out the ELN didn't negotiate, so they put out a kill order. They stormed the basement, and what did they find? They find it empty. Nick had ignored my direct order and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil. He saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter."

Steve raised his eyebrows. That was a very Fury thing to do, nice to see Fury hadn't changed much over the years. "So, you gave him a promotion."

Pierce smiled and shrugged, before leaning forward, resting his elbows on his desk. "I've never had any cause to regret it." He looked seriously at Steve, and sign of reminiscing about Fury gone. "Captain, why was Nick in your apartment last night?"

Steve raised an eyebrow but was quick to ensure he kept a neutral expression on his face. "I don't know."

Pierce cocked his head to one side, considering Steve for a moment. "You know it was bugged?"

"I did, because Nick told me."

"Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?" Steve didn't answer, still careful not to let his expression change, but his gut sank, thinking that Fury had not trusted him after all. "I want you to see something," Pierce continued, activating a holo-screen in front of them.

On the screen was an interrogation room, containing a SHIELD agent Steve didn't recognize and Batroc, the pirate who had boarded the Lemurian Star, but managed to get away. "Who hired you, Batroc?" the SHIELD agent asked.

"Is that live?" Steve asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, they picked him up last night in a not-so-safe house in Algiers."

Steve furrowed his brow, frowning at the screen. "Are you saying he's a suspect? Assassination isn't Batroc's line."

Pierce shook his head. "No, it's more complicated than that. Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star and he was contacted by e-mail and paid by wire transfer. And then the money was run through seventeen fictitious accounts, the last one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech.

Steve raised his eyebrows and looked at Pierce expectantly. "Am I supposed to know who that is?"

Pierce frowned. "Not likely. Veech died six years ago. His last address was 14-35 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick his mother lived at 14-37."

Steve narrowed his eyes at the files, before glancing up at Pierce, his mind going through several different scenarios as he tried to decide what the truth was. "Are you saying Fury hired the pirates? Why?"

"The prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence. The sale went sour and that led to Nick's death." Pierce held Steve's gaze for a moment, as if he was trying to gauge his reaction, but Steve was ready for this game.

"If you really knew Nick Fury, you'd know that's not true."

Pierce smiled, leaning back in his seat. "Why do you think we're talking? See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to but because Nick asked me to, because we were both realists. We knew that despite all the diplomacy and the handshaking and the rhetoric, that to build a really better world sometimes means having to tear the old one down. And that makes enemies. Those people that call you dirty because you got the guts to stick your hands in the mud and try to build something better. And the idea that those people could be happy today, makes me really, really angry." He stopped, analyzing Steve for a moment before speaking again. "Captain, you were the last one to see Nick alive. I don't think that's an accident, and I don't think you do either. So, I'm gonna ask again, why was he there?"

Steve was quiet for a moment, considering all the information he had been given by both Fury and Pierce, considering who out of the two he knew better. Steve raised his chin slightly as he looked Pierce in the eye as he answered. "He told me not to trust anyone."

Pierce stood up, leaning on his desk again as he watched Steve. "I wonder if that included him."

Steve's gut was telling him that Pierce was hiding something, and his last sentence was enough to help him make up his mind. He couldn't trust Pierce. "I'm sorry. Those were his last words." He stood from his chair, nodding to Pierce. "Excuse me." He turned, picking up his shield and replacing it on his back as he made to leave the office.

"Captain," Pierce called out, making Steve stop and look back to where he was now standing up straight behind his desk. "Somebody murdered my friend and I'm gonna find out why. Anyone gets in my way, they're gonna regret it. Anyone."

He was careful to keep a neutral expression on his face, nodding to Pierce. They way Pierce was questioning him, and those final words made Steve wonder if perhaps he was accusing him of killing Fury. "Understood." He turned and continued on his way.

* * *

Steve stepped into the elevator, still tense after his meeting with Pierce as he tried to figure out exactly what the truth was. "Operations control."

"Confirmed," the AI controlling the elevator replied, as the doors began to slide shut. That was something that had taken him some time to get used to, another of Tony Stark's inventions.

As the elevator doors were about to shut, a hand stuck through them, causing the doors to halt and reopen, Rumlow poking his head in, offering another apologetic smile to Steve, before stepping into the elevator. He looked to one of two agents that followed in behind him, shuffling in behind Rumlow who stood beside Steve. "Keep all STRIKE personnel on site."

"Understood."

"Yes, sir."

"Forensics," Rumlow instructed the AI.

"Confirmed."

"Cap," Rumlow greeted Steve finally.

"Rumlow," Steve returned as the elevator doors closed before it began to descend.

"Evidence Response found some fibres on the roof they want us to see. You want me to get the TAC-team ready?" Rumlow asked, glancing sideways at his superior.

Steve turned to glance at Rumlow, considering his question. "No, let's wait and see what it is first." He thought it odd that Rumlow would ask to prep the tactical team before any firm results had been passed on from the fibres. Then again, perhaps he was just eager to catch the shooter too.

"Right." As Steve looked away from Rumlow, he noticed one of the agent's hand was hovering near his handgun at his hip. He kept his face expressionless as he looked back to the elevator doors as it stopped again, the doors sliding open and several more STRIKE and SHIELD agents stepping into the elevator, having their own conversations in the process.

There was some shuffling all around him as everyone tried to fit into the small space of the elevator, several moving in behind him, a few moving to his left. Rumlow stayed to his right, leaning over as the elevator started again.

"I'm sorry about what happened with Fury. Messed up, what happened to him," he murmured quietly, which Steve could have appreciated if he hadn't noticed several of the agents in the elevator seemed somewhat tense, even though they tried to continue on with their own conversations.

"Thank you." He glanced to his left and noticed one of the agents seemed to be sweating, even though the elevator was kept at a reasonably cool temperature, as was a majority of the Triskelion.

The elevator stopped again, with several more agents stepping onboard, and Steve wondered how far off capacity they were. He glanced around, realizing he was now fully surrounded by agents and STRIKE team. He recalled what Fury had said to him before losing consciousness. This wasn't a coincidence.

He sighed, adjusting his gloves as he prepared himself for what was about to happen. "Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?"

There was a moment of silence in the elevator as all the agents seemed to glance out the corner of their eyes at one another, before suddenly one of the agents activated an electric rod, moving to attack Steve. He dodged it, but several agents reached for him, grabbing him and trying to secure magnetic cuffs to his wrists.

Steve kicked out, managing to knock several agents out or away from him for long enough to free his arm from the agents' grips, but Rumlow was quick, attaching a cuff to his wrist before grabbing the electric rod and stabbing it into Steve's side. Several of the agents used that moment to force the magnetic cuff to attach to the wall of the elevator.

He was quick to recover, using his one free hand to knock Rumlow back, who fell back into the remaining agents. He threw a few more punches, knocking out two more agents and a STRIKE team member.

"Whoa, big guy. I just want you to know, Cap, this ain't personal," Rumlow said as he got back to his feet, holding the electric rod towards Steve again as the agents he had left move to try and secure Steve again.

Steve prepared himself to take on the next attack, but a dark shadow moving towards the lift from outside caught his attention. He looked back to Rumlow as the STRIKE team leader moved to try and attack Steve again. "It kind of feels personal."

There was a resounding crash, as a black clad figure crashed through one of the glass panels of the elevator, smashing into two of the agents trying to detain Steve, shards of glass spraying throughout the elevator. The intruder rolled onto their feet, stopping just centimetres from Steve with their back to him, long black hair flicking across his face as they turned back to Rumlow, who still held the electric rod. It was clearly a woman, as her figure-hugging outfit showed all her curves. She wore what resembled a black sock over-head, with a white skull painted on it, her pony-tail poking through a hole in the back.

"Who the hell are you?" Rumlow growled, looking her up and down, before moving to strike at her, but she was able to easily dodge the electric rod, kicking out at his ankle and then blocking as another agent tried to attack her flank. She swiped across the agent's face, before grabbing the electric rod Rumlow was holding and using it to zap another agent who tried to attack her.

Steve kicked out, hitting an agent that tried to grab her from behind, while she turned to use the rod on the one she had just blocked. Rumlow moved to grab her, and she used the rod on him, causing him to drop to the floor, before she reached down and punched him in the head.

She smacked the remaining agent in the head with an elbow, before looking around the elevator for a moment, seeming to analyse the carnage around them.

"Uh, excuse me," he began, turning to try and deactivate the magnet that was holding his wrist against the wall of the elevator, while still keeping an eye on her. She turned her head slightly, seeming to analyse him too. "Thanks, but I could use a little help."

She seemed to hesitate, looking around the elevator, before reaching down and picking up his shield. He eyed her cautiously as she held it up, looking at it carefully. Finally, she jumped up, using the shield to smash the cuff. He felt the pressure released from his wrist, lowering his arm and rubbing his wrist where the cuff had been. "Thanks, but who are you? And who sent you?" He wondered to himself if this was another one of Fury's contingency plans that he had neglected to tell anyone about.

She cocked her head to one side as she looked up at him, at least that's what it looked like she was doing, it was hard to tell with the skull painted sock over her face. As she looked at him, he noticed that the painting of the skull featured two pronounced canines in the top row of teeth, which made for an interesting look. She was only a little shorter than he was, so there wasn't a large difference in height as he stared at her.

Finally, as the elevator continued on its way down, she reached up and removed the skull painted sock from her head, lowering her head as she did so.

When she looked up, he gaped as she tidied her hair and looked at him pointedly. "Captain."

"Jones," he breathed, staring at her. She smirked, handing over his shield.

Before they could carry on their reunion, the elevator came to a stop.

"25th floor," the AI announced as it began opening the doors. Steve and Jones both turned to see the hall was filled with agents, all their weapons trained onto them.

"Drop the shield! Put your hands in the air!" one of the agents shouted. He was quick to react, pushing Jones sideways before swinging his shield at the elevator cables, causing them to snap and the elevator to drop, the doors shutting as its emergency protocol activated. The emergency brakes triggered, causing the elevator to stop sharply, both of them working to maintain their balance.

The pair glanced at each other, before Steve stepped forward, forcing the doors to open. There were more STRIKE agents approaching the elevator, so he quickly let the doors shut again, before looking back to Jones. "Any bright ideas?"

"I do, it might hurt a little though," she answered, looking out of the elevator through the hole she had made. "Depends on how you do it, really."

He moved closer to the gaping hole, looking down to the ground below. It was still a long way down, at least twenty floors.

"Give it up, Rogers!" a STRIKE agent shouted through the door. "Get that door open! You have nowhere to go!"

Steve glanced back at Jones. "Are you going to be alright?"

She looked at him with a slight smirk. "Who out of the two of us has been sleeping for 70 years?"

Steve scoffed slightly at her jab, beginning to wonder what she had been doing all that time, before they both took a few steps back. They ran and charged towards the hole, leaping out, a few shards of glass they caught on the way out falling with them. Steve maneuvered his shield into a position so he could use it to break his fall, as the concrete below rushed up towards them. The landing was very rough, knocking all the wind from him as he landed on his side, with his shield below him.

He struggled to his feet, Jones walking over to him, without even a sign of injury or struggle after leaping from the elevator. "Time to go," she muttered, helping him to his feet and dragging him along with her as she broke out into a run. He noticed she was leading him to the garage where he kept his motorcycle. "Get your motorcycle, we can split up and I'll find you when its safe."

"What about you?"

"I'm not the one they're hunting, Captain." She looked at him pointedly as they entered the garage, pushing him towards his bike while she disappeared down a corridor where he heard gunshots soon after. He worried about her but knew it would take more than gunshots to stop her.

He found his motorcycle, quick to start it and ride it out, headed for the one bridge on and off the island and avoiding the agents that tried to stop him. As he approached the bridge, a Quinjet appeared, swooping down low overhead. It banked sharply, turning to face him as he continued to speed along the bridge.

"Stand down, Captain Rogers. Stand down." The Quinjet lowered its machine gun, training its aim on him as he continued along, ignoring their request. "I repeat, stand down."

Steve continued on, formulating a plan as he sped on. They opened fire, bullets shooting past him and kicking up concrete as he wove along the bridge in an effort to avoid their aim. Steve clenched his jaw, before removing his shield from his back, and throwing it towards the Quinjet. The shield shot through the air, aiming straight for one of the engines in its wing, lodging in between the propellers and causing the engine to sputter as it tried to reengage operation.

He took the opportunity to launch himself off of his motorcycle, landing on top of the Quinjet, retrieving his shield and doing more damage with his shield before jumping off as the jet crashed down into the Potomac.

He turned, hurrying away from the Triskelion, wondering whether Jones had escaped or if he would be staging a rescue mission for her in the near future.

* * *

Steve peered around a corner, careful to keep his hoodie over his head as he looked around to see if any SHIELD agents were still hanging around the hospital. When he was sure the coast was clear, he made his way towards the vending machine near the operating theatre where Fury had been.

He peered inside the machine, but his stomach dropped almost immediately. All the gum was gone, and so was the flash drive he had hidden there too.

As he stared at the machine, he heard someone approach him from behind. He glanced in the reflection of the machine, seeing Natasha standing behind him, with a smirk on her face. She blew a bubble with the gum in her mouth.

Steve clenched his jaw in annoyance, before turning around angrily and shoving her into a room behind them, locking the door behind him.

"Where is it?" he demanded, grabbing her roughly by her arms.

"Safe," Natasha replied, looking back at him with a mixture of concern and fear.

"Do better!" he growled at her, giving her a slight shake.

"Where did you get it?" she demanded, finally seeming to lose any ounce of fear or concern she had.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Why would I tell you?"

"Fury gave it to you. Why?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him as she stared back at him.

It dawned on him then, he had seen that flash drive somewhere before. It was the same flash drive that Natasha had on the _Lemurian Star_, when she was downloading the intel from the ship's server. "What's on it?"

"I don't know."

He was getting frustrated with the red headed spy. "Stop lying!"

"I only act like I know everything, Rogers," she retorted huffily.

"I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?" he hissed.

She shrugged, before continuing. "Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so did you."

He gave her a warning look. After all the revelations in the last few hours, his temper was running very short, and even he wondered how much more it was going to take before he finally snapped. "I'm not gonna ask you again."

Natasha pursed her lips together for a moment, looking at him calmly before speaking again. "I know who killed Fury." Steve raised his eyebrows slightly, but said nothing, allowing her to continue. "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years."

Steve narrowed his eyes at her, not sure if he was willing to believe her so far. He'd had his trust broken more than a handful of times in one day already. "So, he's a ghost story."

She sighed, shuffling herself into a more comfortable stance. "Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff, I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me." She lifted her shirt, showing the remaining scar from the wound positioned to one side of her stomach. "Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis," she added sardonically as she dropped her shirt back down.

He analysed her face for a moment, taking in all that she had just told him, before deciding on a measured response. "Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now."

A ghost of an amused smile spread on her features, before she continued. "Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried." She dug into her pocket, before pulling out the flash drive and holding it up. "Like you said, he's a ghost story."

Steve reached up, taking the flash drive from her and looking at it for a moment, before glancing back at Natasha. "Well, let's find out what the ghost wants."

* * *

**xo**

**Krayzee**


	3. Insight

**Evening all,**

**So, this is my first time writing any fic for Winter Soldier, there is a lot of action to write in!**

**Good fun though.**

**Thanks to everyone who has stopped to have a read and followed.**

**Enjoy**

**xo**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Insight**

Steve looked around the shopping mall, walking hurriedly, hyper-vigilant of every person that walked past them. Natasha grabbed him roughly and pulled him back to her, slipping her hand into his like it was the most natural thing in the world, but it just made him feel more uncomfortable. "First rule of going on the run is, don't run, walk."

Steve scoffed quietly. "If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off." He had stolen his clothes from a gym he had come across after making his escape from the Triskelion, finding a locker that was unlocked and taking advantage of it.

Natasha led him into the Apple store, walking towards the Apple Macs and beginning to type away without a second thought. Steve looked around the store in concern, worried someone might say something to them about using the computer for their own personal use.

Natasha hummed to herself for a moment, before speaking again. "The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are."

Steve grimaced, looking at the screen as it began to flow with numbers and letters that meant nothing to him. "How much time do we have?"

She pulled the flash drive her pocket. "Uh...about nine minutes from..." she inserted the flash drive into the MacBook. "Now." She began typing away, humming to herself again, seemingly non-plussed about using the computer. "Fury was right about that ship, somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI, it keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands."

Steve looked around warily again, before looking back down at the screen. "Can you override it?"

"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly," she replied, emphasizing the 'slightly' part. She continued typing away on the computer, Steve watching her with interest. "I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from."

"Can I help you guys with anything?" a friendly voice asked from behind them. Steve whipped around, moving to block the sales assistants view of the screen.

Natasha answered without a hint of concern in her voice. "Oh, no. My fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations."

"Right! We're getting married," Steve added, doing his best to play along.

"Congratulations," the assistant exclaimed, smiling warmly at Steve. "Where are you guys thinking about going?" he asked, trying to peer past Steve to see the screen. Steve glanced over his shoulder, seeing the tracer stop somewhere in New Jersey.

"New Jersey."

"Oh," the assistant responded, sounding mildly disappointed in the destination, before staring at Steve for a moment, leaning in closer as he stared. Steve leaned back in response, nervous that the man might recognize him. The assistant's eyes went wide, before he pointed at Steve's face. "I have the exact same glasses."

Steve heard Natasha snicker behind him. "Wow, you two are practically twins."

The Apple employee scoffed. "Yeah, I wish. Specimen," he said, motioning to Steve's body with his hands. "Uh...if you guys need anything, I'm Aaron."

"Thank you," Steve replied, waving as Aaron turned and walked away, releasing a low breath as he relaxed slightly. He turned back to look at the computer screen. "You said nine minutes, come on."

"Shh, relax," Natasha soothed, continuing to type away without looking away from the screen. "Got it. You know it?"

Steve stared at the screen for a moment, before sighing. "I used to. Let's go." He reached down, pulling the flash drive from the computer, before they both casually left the store.

As they walked through the centre, Steve spotted several men that stood out. It was the STRIKE team. "Standard tac-team. Two behind, to across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you hit the south escalator to the metro," Steve murmured as he and Natasha continued walking.

Natasha rolled her eyes, not changing her pace. "Shut up and put your arm around me, laugh at something I said."

"What?" he asked, glancing sideways at her in confusion.

"Do it!" she hissed. Steve quickly put his arm around Natasha, laughing as she instructed, although somewhat stiffly.

They continued on their way, the STRIKE team passing them by without a second look. They hurried towards one of the escalators, careful to keep their heads down as they observed their surroundings. Natasha suddenly turned to Steve, putting her hands around his waist causing him to look at her in alarm.

"Kiss me."

"What?" he asked incredulously.

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable," she stated calmly, looking at him pointedly.

"Yes, they do," he replied, furrowing his brow as he looked down at the smaller spy. She quickly reached up, pulling Steve's face down and kissing him. Steve was quick to try and react appropriately, spotting Rumlow in the corner of his eye, before closing his eyes as he saw Rumlow turn his head away as he moved past them on the adjacent escalator.

Natasha pulled away first, smirking up at him and raising an eyebrow expectantly. "You still uncomfortable?"

Steve knew his face was probably red as he leaned back from Natasha. "It's not exactly the word I would use," he answered, before the pair turned and stepped off the escalator, exiting the mall and hurrying out into the car park.

* * *

Steve sat in the driver's seat of a car he had stolen, heading for the location in New Jersey Natasha had traced on the flash drive.

"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" Natasha teased, looking across at Steve, her feet on the dashboard as they sped down the highway.

"Nazi Germany," he replied, earning a hum of praise from Natasha. "And we're borrowing. Take your feet off the dash," he scolded her.

She raised her eyebrows but removed her feet as requested, sitting up straighter. "Alright, I have a question for you, oh, which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it, you know?"

He sighed, not taking his eyes off the road. "What?"

"Was that your first kiss since 1945?" she asked, smirking slightly as she looked at him.

He hesitated to answer, before sighing. "That bad, huh?"

She laughed lightly, her tone of voice becoming defensive. "I didn't say that."

"Well, it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying." He hadn't had much experience with women pre-serum, and post-serum, the only women he had regular contact with were Peggy and Sarah. There was the one interaction with the Private in 1944, but that was about it.

"No, I didn't. I just wondered how much practice you've had," Natasha explained, smiling back at Steve.

"You don't need practice," he scoffed, glancing sideways at her with a furrowed brow.

"Everybody needs practice."

He rolled his eyes, before relaxing back into his seat slightly. "It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm ninety-five, I'm not dead." He tried to convince himself that Natasha believed him, but he also knew he was not a good liar.

"Nobody special, though?" Natasha asked, raising her eyebrows questioningly.

It was Steve's turn to smirk as he looked at Natasha. "Believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience." At those words, he recalled the events earlier that morning, when Lieutenant Sarah Jones had appeared to rescue him from the elevator. Where had she been all this time? And how did she know he was going to be there?

"Well, that's alright, you just make something up," Natasha continued, making herself comfortable in her seat again, bringing her legs up onto the seat with her.

He raised an eyebrow and glanced at her. "What, like you?" He had heard that Natasha was always making up stories about who she was for missions. And a few things in between too.

"I don't know. The truth is a matter of circumstances, it's not all things, to all people, all the time. And neither am I."

He looked at her pointedly. "That's a tough way to live."

She shrugged in an offhand manner. "It's a good way not to die, though."

Steve was quiet for a moment, considering how much he actually knew about the little red headed spy. "You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that someone really is." His words brought Sarah back to mind, remembering when she had exposed her true nature to him, and how she put her body on the line in doing so, to save them all.

"Yeah? Who do you want me to be?" she asked expectantly, raising her eyebrows.

Steve was quiet for a moment, before glancing back at Natasha. "How about a friend?"

Natasha gave a quiet laugh. "Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers," she teased, looking back out to the road ahead of them.

Steve was quiet for a moment, the thought of friends returning his thoughts to Sarah. Recalling what she was wearing, it appeared quite high tech and not dissimilar to his own uniform. He wondered if perhaps, Fury had even more secrets he wasn't aware of.

"Are there any other, very special agents working for SHIELD?" Steve asked curiously, careful not to look at Natasha as he asked.

She frowned, looking at him with a furrowed brow. "Special? Like you special or just special? Because I could say there's a few special people." The face she made gave him a good idea of what she meant.

"Special like me, like Banner…" he trailed off, considering who else he knew worked for SHIELD.

"Oh yeah, there's like a whole division of 'special' people with abilities now, they don't tend to get involved in the sorts of things we do though, they tend to chase down other people with abilities that might be using them for the wrong reasons," she replied in such an offhand manner as she turned to look out the windscreen again, it sounded like it wasn't the strangest conversation she'd had to date. She looked back at him, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Why?"

He pressed his lips together, considering how much he should tell her. "It just occurred to me, that if there are people like me and Banner out there, then what if there are others, and how many has Fury recruited that I don't know about." He clenched his jaws slightly, realizing there was something else he hadn't been told about.

How many more surprises was he going to receive today?

* * *

They pulled up outside the military establishment, now currently nothing but a condemned site.

Steve looked up at the gate, reading the sign as he grabbed his shield from the back seat of the car. "This is it."

Natasha began walking towards the gate. "The file came from these coordinates."

"So did I," he murmured, memories flooding back of the time he spent on the base, before he was chosen to be the final test subject for the serum injection. They slipped through the gate, walking through the camp, looking for any signs of life or a clue as to where the file might have been made. "This camp is where I was trained."

Natasha raised an eyebrow, stopping to look around. "Changed much?"

"A little."

They walked for a while, Natasha pulling a device from her pocket and using it to scan their surroundings. She huffed in annoyance after a few minutes, looking back to Steve. "This is a dead end. Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off."

Steve looked around again, beginning to feel as frustrated as Natasha, until he turned and noticed a building ahead of them that was nestled amongst some trees that had obviously become overgrown as the base fell out of use. He furrowed his brow. It was a standard armoury style bunker, the domed design meant to help prevent too much damage coming to those inside from collapsing structure. He began to walk towards it, picking up his pace.

"What is it?" Natasha asked, quickly following him.

"Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards of the barracks," he replied, as they stopped in front of it, Natasha raising an eyebrow expectantly. "This building is in the wrong place." He looked at the door, noticing a heavy lock was still threaded through the bolt. He smashed it with the edge of his shield, causing the lock to break open.

They swung open the door, walking inside cautiously, both vigilant in case someone was waiting for them. Natasha saw a light switch, flicking it on. They were both stunned to see what appeared to be an office, and behind the desk, was an all to familiar logo.

"This is SHIELD," Natasha murmured, nodding to the logo.

"Maybe where it started," Steve replied, continuing further into the office and noticing a door at the end of the room. He slowly opened the door, peering in as another set of lights activated. They entered the room, looking around for any sign of inhabitants.

Steve turned, seeing three old framed photos still hanging on the wall. He recognized all three of the subjects. Howard Stark, Peggy Carter and Colonel Chester Phillips. Three of the four people responsible for his current existence.

Natasha stopped beside him, also looking up at the photos. "There's Stark's father."

"Howard."

Natasha raised her eyebrows slightly, before looking back at the pictures in front of her. "Who's the girl?" Steve bit his lip, half annoyed that Natasha didn't know one of the three founders of SHIELD, but not wanting to raise the subject with her either.

He turned and continued into the room, looking at all the office desks lined up in straight lines throughout the room. It was all very basic and even he knew there was no way the file had come from here. He stopped, looking around the room and spotting a bookcase that seemed slightly out of place with the rest of the filing system in the room.

"If you're already working in a secret office..." he walked towards the bookcase, placing his hand against it and giving it a light shove. The bookshelf slid out of the way easily, exposing an old elevator.

Steve looked back to Natasha expectantly. "Why do you need to hide the elevator?"

Natasha smirked at Steve. He nodded towards the elevator, before stepping inside, Natasha quick to follow behind. The elevator automatically kicked in, the doors closing and starting to descend.

At the bottom of the elevator ride, they both stepped out into a room that was filled with computers, screens and old systems that appeared to have been collecting dust for decades.

Natasha looked around, a disgruntled look on her face. "This can't be the data-point, this technology is ancient." She continued walking further into the room, Steve following behind her. He was starting to think this was another wild goose chase, or perhaps that Natasha was leading him on again. He wouldn't put it past her, she was the best in her line of work, lying was her job.

Suddenly, Natasha pulled the flash drive from her pocket, moving to stand in front of a computer screen in the very centre of the room. Steve moved to stand beside her, watching as she looked from the flash drive to a small device that was plugged into the computer in front of her. It looked very out of place in the room, the blue glow it emitted reminded him of a lot of the technology that he had seen around the SHIELD offices back at the Triskelion.

Natasha finally inserted the flash drive into the device. To both of their surprise, the computer booted up and the screen came to life, words appearing on the screen.

_Initiate system?_

The little spy moved to the keyboard, typing away. "Y-E-S, spells yes." They both watched as the old computer begins making noises as it activates more systems in the room. Natasha smirked, looking at the screen as the computer began to start whining loudly as it processed her request. "Shall we play a game?" She glanced back at Steve. "It's from a movie…"

He cut her off, knowing exactly what she was talking about, having watched the movie. He found it appalling. "Yeah, I saw it."

An old-style video camera came to life, turning to face them and scanning their faces. A blurry picture appeared on the screen, vaguely resembling a person's face, before a heavily accented voice spoke. "Rogers, Steven. Born, 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1984."

Steve recognized the voice immediately. He had watched the interrogation of this man just over 70 years ago.

Natasha frowned, looking at the screen. "It's some kind of a recording."

"I am not a recording, Fräulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am." The screen flickered, revealing an old photo of the scientist, Arnim Zola.

"Do you know this thing?" Natasha asked in surprise.

"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years," Steve explained, still trying to figure out exactly what was currently happening.

"First correction, I am Swiss," Zola replied, sounding indignant. "Second, look around you. I have never been more alive. In 1972 I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body, my mind, however, that was worth saving on two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain."

Steve stared at the screen, feeling his anger beginning to grow as Zola kept talking. "How did you get here?"

"Invited," Zola answered, and you could nearly hear the smirk in his voice, even as a computer program. Steve was stunned into silence, trying to comprehend why Zola would have been invited to the US.

It was Natasha who explained. "It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value."

"They thought I could help their cause," Zola added, sounding sardonic. "I also helped my own."

Steve was still struggling to comprehend what Zola was saying. "HYDRA died with the Red Skull."

"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place," Zola retorted, with no hesitation.

"Prove it," Steve challenged. He couldn't believe that the likes of Howard Stark, Chester Phillips or Peggy would ever consider allowing a HYDRA scientist into their country willingly.

"Accessing archive." The computer screen changed, showing old footage of Johann Schmidt. "HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD. For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed."

While Steve stared at the screen as different moments in history were shown on the screen, Natasha objected. "That's impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you."

"Accidents will happen." The computer screen changed again, to show the video of Howard and Maria Stark's car 'accident', and then the declaration of Fury's death. HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise." Steve felt his anger rising steadily, with every word that came from Zola's mouth. He felt his heart rate rising, his jaw clenching, as did his fists. "We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your Life; a zero sum."

Steve lashed out, smashing the computer screen with his shield as the anger broke free. The screen went black, sparking a few times in the silence.

Another screen activated to their right. "As I was saying..."

He glared at the screen, before looking down at the flash drive, still plugged into the glowing device. "What's on this drive?" he asked looking back up to the screen.

"Project Insight requires insight. So, I wrote an algorithm."

"What kind of algorithm? What does it do?" Natasha demanded.

"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it." At these words, the doors to the elevator began to slide close. Steve was quick to react, throwing his shield, but too late. The doors slammed shut, his shield ricocheting back towards him.

There was a beep from a device in Natasha's pocket, and she quickly pulled it out, checking the screen with a few quick taps. "Steve, we got a bogey. Short range ballistic. 30 seconds tops."

"Who fired it?" he demanded.

Natasha's face paled, and her eyes widened with shock. She turned back to face him. "S.H.I.E.L.D."

Zola cackled. "I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain. Admit it, it's better this way. We're both of us...out of time."

Steve looked around hurriedly, looking for any possible way of escaping the building. As he turned, a metal grate in the floor caught his eye. He reached down, flinging the grate open, before grabbing Natasha and pushing her down into the hole. He leapt in behind her, using his shield as protection for them both as the building began to explode all around them. Debris flew all around them, peppering them with chunks of concrete and large piece of metal.

When the bombardment finally stopped, he worked to push the rubble and debris from the building collapsing all around them, looking around to see the night sky above them. The missile had completely obliterated the bunker.

He looked down, seeing Natasha was out cold, blood coming from a knock to her head. He wondered if he had accidentally done that as he had jumped down on top of her. Feeling mildly guilty, he quickly picked up the small spy, carrying her out of the rubble and back towards their car.

He stopped fast as he heard the sound of helicopters approaching, as well as a convoy of vehicles. HYDRA were already on their way. He turned quickly, hurrying back around the bunker and running into the night.

* * *

**xo**

**Krayzee**


	4. Rhea Smith

**Morning all!**

**So this chapter, gives some answers, and maybe even creates new ones ;)**

**I'm fun like that.**

**Enjoy**

**xo**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**Rhea Smith**

Steve helped Natasha through the streets, she was still suffering bouts of dizziness due to the knock to her head. He knew they couldn't take her to a hospital, or to SHIELD, and for a long while, he just kept walking, unsure of where to turn.

Eventually, they stopped to rest in a park, Steve easing Natasha down on a park bench, before sitting down beside her. The sun was beginning to rise over the houses, and very soon, it would be completely day light.

"Where are we going, Steve?" Natasha asked, wincing as she moved her arm, before tenderly touching her ribs.

He sighed. "I don't know."

She looked around again, before frowning slightly. "I think that friend of yours lives around here," she said, turning her head and craning her neck.

Steve furrowed his brow. "And how would you know that?" he demanded. Even he didn't know that. He only knew his place of work, at the VA.

Natasha looked back at him, raising her eyebrows slightly and smirking. "It's kind of my job, Steve." He glared at her and she rolled her eyes. "Does that really matter right now? He's not SHIELD, and as far as I could tell, he's not HYDRA either. What other choice do we have?"

He thought about it for a moment, before sighing in resignation. "Fine, let's go." He stood up, helping her to her feet, before letting her lead the way.

They walked for another ten minutes, before she led him up a driveway of a small, respectable house. There was a car parked in the driveway.

"We should use the back door," Natasha whispered. Steve nodded, leading the way around the back. He knocked quietly, both of them looking around warily. The door opened, and Sam peered out, his eyes widening in surprise as he looked between the two, before glancing at their clothing. Steve was certain they looked like shit, having been buried under piles of rubble as the bunker had collapsed all around them.

"Hey, man," Sam greeted, his voice exhibiting all his confusion at seeing the pair on his back doorstep.

"I'm sorry about this. We need a place to lay low," Steve said hastily.

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us," Natasha added, no doubt for dramatic affect.

Sam paused for a moment, his brow furrowing as he looked over them, considering the pair, before taking a step back into the house. "Not everyone."

Steve bent over the basin, rinsing his face off with warm water. It felt good to wash off the mess of the day, but it did nothing to wash away his concerns. So much had happened, so many lies revealed, so many secrets unlocked.

Of all the secrets, one stood out to him on a personal level. Sarah Jones was alive. Deep down, he had known she had to be alive, but a little part of him also wondered if perhaps she wasn't as immortal as she had believed. Or if perhaps HYDRA had captured her. That sent a shudder through his shoulders, as he considered all the experiments they could have used her for.

He turned, drying his face and smoothing down his blonde hair, before opening the door and stepping out into the bedroom where Sam had offered for them to tidy themselves up. Natasha looked up as he exited the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel as she sat on the end of the bed, offering him the slightest of smiles. The smile never reached her eyes.

"You okay?" he asked, sitting on a chair opposite her.

"Yeah," she replied in an offhand manner, offering a smile. He noted that the smile never reached her eyes like it usually would.

He looked at her pointedly, he could tell she wasn't okay. The usually confident spy wasn't her usual chirpy self. "What's going on?"

Natasha seemed to hesitate for a moment, before she leaned her elbows onto her knees, looking at the floor as she answered. "When I first joined SHIELD, I thought I was going straight. But I guess I just traded in the KGB for HYDRA. I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but...I guess I can't tell the difference anymore."

Steve smiled at her sympathetically, before raising an eyebrow at her. "There's a chance you might be in the wrong business."

She chuckled quietly, before settling into an appreciative look. "I owe you."

He smiled back. "It's okay."

"If it was the other way around, and it was down to me to save your life, and you be honest with me, would you trust me to do it?" she asked quietly, looking at him seriously.

Steve was stunned at the self-doubt Natasha was showing. "I would now. And I'm always honest."

"Liar, you would hope for the best out of everyone no matter how many times they betray you," a voice piped up from the other side of the room.

Both jumped to their feet, Natasha poised to strike while Steve stared at the person who had now appeared in front of the window.

Sarah looked back at him, arms crossed and a smirk on her face as she leant against the windowsill. "Isn't that right, Steve?"

Natasha looked from Sarah to Steve with a look of suspicion on her face. "Do you know her, Steve?"

"I hope so," he replied, straightening slightly. "Jones, is that you?"

Now that they weren't being chased, shot at or jumping from twenty storeys in the air, he could get a better look at her. It definitely looked like the Sarah he remembered, her long black hair was as he remembered, albeit tied up high into a ponytail instead of a braid, and her features definitely reminded him of Sarah. Her eyes were brown, no trace of red anywhere to be seen.

The thing that mildly confused him was her skin, she didn't appear as pale in the face as he remembered.

"Yes, its me, although I go by Rhea Smith now, if you don't mind." She smirked, standing up and striding towards Steve. She stopped in front of him, her eyes flicked down to his chest momentarily, and in that moment, he knew it was Sarah.

"Sarah…" he reached out, grabbing her roughly around the shoulders and forcing her into a hug. She stiffened slightly, not putting her arms around him in return, but she didn't shove him away.

"Okay big guy," she muttered, eventually putting her hands against his waist and pushing back. "Back it up." He released her and she stepped back, putting some distance between them and he was quick to note the slightest of red tinges around the brown of her eyes had appeared.

"Sorry," he apologized, remembering himself.

"It's okay, it's easier to control now."

Natasha cleared her throat, drawing Steve and _Rhea_'s attention to her. "Care to explain?"

Before Steve could even begin to explain, there was a quiet knock and the door opened, Sam poking his head in. He raised his eyebrows when he saw Rhea. "So, y'all are multiplying now?" Steve glanced at Rhea, who smirked in response. "I made breakfast. If you guys…eat that sort of thing," he said slowly, looking between the three.

* * *

Rhea leant against the breakfast bar, a hot cup of coffee sitting on the bench in front of her. She tried not to chuckle at Steve, as he kept throwing furtive glances towards her, as if trying to figure out if he was dreaming or not.

"So, let me get this straight. You're a…vampire?" Sam asked slowly. He had positioned himself on the far side of the kitchen table from her. She could hear his heartbeat as it picked up the pace. Anyone would think he was running a marathon, if they heard it. The little SHIELD spy's heartrate was also a little faster than resting speed, but her face was the picture of calm. Rhea could see she was trying to analyse her, maybe see if perhaps she was lying and there was an underlying story.

"That is correct." Steve had asked to her to tell them the truth from the get-go, rather than hide it. And honestly, in this day and age, with the strange things that had happened in the last 70 years, she wasn't the weirdest thing to be getting around in the world.

"Jones," Steve began, earning a pointed look from Rhea. "Sorry, Rhea, was my Lieutenant during World War Two. She was with me from the very beginning, when I rescued the 107th at Krausberg."

"I've never seen you in the records," Natasha stated, although the underlying question was obvious. She knew Steve wanted to know too, as he looked at her expectantly.

"After Steve crashed the Valkyrie, which I jumped off in an effort to stop one of the smaller bombers," she looked over at Steve, remembering he hadn't found out the outcome. "Which I stopped, by the way, I crashed out in the ocean, and was drifting for ages. I eventually drifted to land but was in such a bad state of blood lust, I devasted a whole Nazi unit who were still loitering in France, and I nearly took a whole unit of Brits too, if it wasn't for the Howling Commandos."

Steve raised his eyebrows at the mention of the Commandos. "They found you?"

"They did, they tracked me from the coast of France, towards Paris. I gave them hell, but they woke me up," she answered, sighing as she remembered the night they cornered her well.

The five remaining Commandos had cornered her in a destroyed church, of all places, and then tried to take her captive, in an effort to bring her back to her senses, and she had done them some major damage too. She had almost bitten Dernier, but thanks to the perseverance of all five men, they had roused her conscience and brought her out of her state of blood lust.

Under Peggy's influence, the Howling Commandos had gone against orders and tracked her down, they refused to give up, and it was like a little voice in her head had been fighting against the blood lust, to get the animal in her to back down, and Dernier, the one man in the unit beside Bucky and Steve who had never shown any fear of her, speaking to her like he was her old friend, had been enough to give the human side of her a boost and bring her back to the light.

Eventually, it worked, and they pulled her out of France and returned her to London and to Peggy.

"So, you've been working for SHIELD since then?" Natasha asked with interest. Rhea noted that her heart rate had dropped down to a more rested rate, and Sam's was also dropping. Their trust in her was building. Steve's was steady as a rock.

"Not quite," she replied, noting the confused look on everyone's faces.

"So, you weren't working for Fury when you dropped into the elevator?" Steve asked dubiously.

She smirked. "Never met the guy." She lifted her coffee to her lips, taking a long sip. One of the things she had developed over the last half century was an appreciation for coffee. Even though she didn't need normal sustenance to survive, she had begun to enjoy a few culinary delights. Candy was another thing she had come to enjoy, her current penchant being skittles. "Not face to face, anyway."

Steve frowned, crossing his arms as he stared at her. "Then what have you been doing all this time? I can't imagine Colonel Phillips would have been eager to let you just leave SSR."

She scoffed, looking pointedly at Steve. "Let's get one thing straight, Steve, no one can make me do something I don't want to do. Its extremely hard to force me into anything, let's be honest." Steve pressed his lips into a thin line, causing Rhea to sigh. "I stayed with the SSR, but after the formation of SHIELD, it was brought to my attention that perhaps some of their…projects, were questionable."

"Like Project Insight?" Steve asked, standing up straighter and putting his hands on his hips.

"Project Insight, Operation Paperclip, Phase 2," she rattled off the more commonly known few. "All of these held questionable undertones."

"To who?" Sam asked, his interest finally piqued, it seemed, as he leant against the dining room table, looking at Rhea with great interest.

Rhea looked over at Steve meaningfully.

He furrowed his brow for a moment, before a look of realization spread across his face, followed by shake of his head and a knowing smile. "Peggy."

"Peggy? Is that code name for something?" Sam asked, looking between Rhea and Steve.

"Agent Margaret Carter, later known as Director Margaret Carter," Rhea began to explain. "While I answered to Colonel Phillips when I joined the SSR, even I knew that Margaret was the real leader amongst them. When Stark and Phillips began discussing Operation Paperclip after Howard found the Tesseract, Peggy called me in. She knew they would never listen to reason, so she wanted me to be her contingency plan."

"So, what, you were supposed to monitor and then what?" Natasha asked, leaning back in her chair, a contemplative expression on her face. "You're one person."

Rhea raised her eyebrows, looking at the little spy. "I am one person with super speed, super strength, immortality and the ability to shadow shift. That's a little more than the average person, Agent Romanoff."

Natasha's heartbeat jumped, obviously mildly surprised at being addressed by her last name when no introduction of the sort had been made, but she was careful to keep her expression clear. Rhea still smirked, having noted her surprise.

"I monitored everything and sent word back to Peggy, and she would either deal with it from her end, or I would be sent in for a less…diplomatic…touch."

Steve furrowed his brow slightly, obviously not happy at Rhea's choice of action, but he didn't say anything. "So, who have you been working for since Peggy stepped down?"

Rhea pursed her lips together. That was not an easy question to answer. She looked down at the floor as she recalled the conversation with Peggy. "Honestly, up until Peggy was diagnosed with dementia, she was my boss. After the diagnosis, she told me that it was up to me to decide what I wanted to do. She asked me to decide what was best, because she knew she wasn't in any condition to do so anymore. Admittedly, I was a bit lost for a while there." She looked up to Steve, smiling at him. "And then, they found you, I couldn't believe it, but they did. So, I continued monitoring the organization. Fury, Pierce, the council, all of them."

Steve was quiet for a moment, contemplative as he watched Rhea. "And did you know?"

Rhea sat back on the stool, crossing her ankles as she thought how best to answer. "In short, yes. I knew Pierce was dirty, but he had a tool in his pocket that made it incredibly hard to touch him. And I assure you, it's not going to be easy for you to come to terms with."

"And Fury?" Steve demanded, seeming to ignore her last comment.

"The man is clean. Paranoid, prone to bad decisions, unpredictable, but all in all, he's one of the good guys," Rhea surmised with a shrug of her shoulders.

Natasha looked to Steve, and Rhea could tell both were relieved to hear it.

* * *

Steve stood at the breakfast bench, beside Sarah, now Rhea, as they discussed the events of the night before. It was nice to have someone he knew he could trust at his back again. If Peggy trusted her to be the contingency plan for SHIELD, then he trusted her too.

"So, the question is: who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?" Natasha asked, looking thoughtful.

"Pierce," Rhea and Steve answered in unison.

"Aww, that's cute," Natasha teased, smiling at the pair before looking serious again. "He happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world."

They were quiet for a moment with the only sound coming from Rhea as she sipped her coffee. Steve found that an interesting notion, in all his time serving with the vampire, she had never drank or eaten the same food as them, only feeding on blood supplied from the blood bank. A thought occurred to him, as he remembered his last mission. "But he's not working alone, Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star."

Natasha narrowed her eyes, leaning forwards so she could look pointedly at Steve. "So was Jasper Sitwell."

"Oh, yeah, he's dirty, him and that Senator that wanted to shut down little Stark's Iron Man are tight, both HYDRA," Rhea commented, getting up and moving to rinse her cup.

Steve furrowed his brow as he watched her. "And you didn't think to do something about that?"

"I was working on it, Sitwell has a wealth of connections. With him, I would have been able to bring down a good chunk of the HYDRA network, problem was…he was also well protected."

"Even from you?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"These particular circumstances are…trying," she replied coolly. Steve narrowed his eyes at her for a moment, considering her answer. It seemed to him that HYDRA had something in their arsenal or at their disposal that was enough to make Rhea reluctant to take action, and he was curious as to what it was.

He looked to the others. "So, the real question is: how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?" Steve asked.

"Do it at night and I take care of it?" Rhea offered, but Steve looked at her pointedly before shaking his head. It was still only morning, they needed to move now. The longer HYDRA was in control of SHIELD and Project Insight, the more danger the world was in.

Sam walked over to the far side of his kitchen, picking up a file and moving back to the dining room table, dropping the file in front of Steve. "The answer is: you don't."

Steve looked down at the manila folder, noting the insignia on the front and the word 'CLASSIFIED' in big letters. "What's this?"

"Call it a resume," Sam answered with a small smile. Rhea moved to stand beside Steve as he opened the file, revealing mission reports, performance reports and photos from Sam's service.

Natasha picked up one of the images, looking at it with raised eyebrows. "Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you?" Sam only smiled in response, and Natasha looked to Steve. "You didn't say he was a para-rescue."

"Wait, you're one of them?" Rhea asked, looking over the list of deployments in the file. Steve glanced sideways at Rhea. Just how much did she know about SHIELD and the other agencies currently operating?

Sam gave a quiet laugh. "I was."

Steve looked at another image in his file, where he was standing next to another man. The pair were smiling, both wearing the same uniform. "Is this Riley?"

Sam smiled sadly. "Yeah."

"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?" Natasha asked, looking at him. Sam offered them another file, this one labelled with 'TOP SECRET' and 'FALCON'.

"No. These."

Steve raised his eyebrows as he opened the file. Beside him Rhea gave a low whistle, while Natasha grabbed one of the schematics to look over thoroughly. "I thought you said you were a pilot," Steve said pointedly, looking back at Sam.

Sam grinned. "I never said pilot."

"Honestly, though, would he be lying if he did say that?" Rhea reasoned, picking up another image for a closer look.

Steve looked seriously at Sam. The man had discharged from the Army. He had earnt his early retirement by all accounts in his file. He didn't want him to feel like he was being forced into something as dangerous as what they were about to do. "I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

Sam looked exasperated at Steve. "Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in."

"Does he get tights too?" Rhea teased. Steve looked at her for a moment, mildly confused as to why she would say that, until he recalled his first conversation with her and Peggy in Europe at the camp he visited with the USO.

He sighed, closing his eyes as he remembered the painfully embarrassing experience. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?" She winked at him, before moving to sit down at the breakfast bar again. Steve looked back to Sam. "Where can we get our hands on one of these things?"

"The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall."

Steve looked at Natasha, who shrugged, before he looked over to Rhea. She offered him a wry smile, before looking at Sam with raised eyebrows. "Only twelve inches?"

Steve grinned at his old Lieutenant, knowing full well that it wouldn't even provide a challenge for her skills and abilities. He looked back to Sam. "Shouldn't be a problem."

* * *

**I may be mildly (a lot) excited for the next couple of chapters :D**

**xo**

**Krayzee**


	5. Project Shadow

**Hi FF peeps,**

**New chapter coming your way, a little bit shorter than normal, but it just fit better in with the flow of things.**

**Now if you'll excuse me, a hard session of Ghost Recon Breakpoint is calling my name!**

**Enjoy**

**xo**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**Project Shadow**

Rhea shut the door of the bedroom, quickly putting civilian clothing from the bag she kept in her car over her armour, making sure that she looked reasonably normal.

As she checked her make up in the mirror of the bathroom, she heard a firm knock on the door. From the knock alone, she could tell it was Steve.

"Yeah?"

"You decent?"

She smirked to herself. "Occasionally." There was silence for a moment and Rhea rolled her eyes. "Come in, Steve."

He opened the door, walking in and shutting the door behind him. He glanced towards the bathroom and offered her shy smile. "Hey, sorry to interrupt."

"What's wrong, Steve?"

Steve pressed his lips into a thin line and a sheepish expression appeared on his face. "How have you been, really?" he asked. Rhea turned away from the mirror, to look at him, noting his heart rate had jumped slightly.

"Are you okay?" she asked, raising her eyebrows expectantly, putting down her make up and looking at Steve in concern. Having been around a few centuries, she knew how hard it could be adapting to the world changing around you. For him though, the world had changed dramatically and left him behind, that had to be hard for the man.

He took a deep breath, before carefully sitting on the end of the bed. "It's just…really good to see you," he answered.

She offered a small smile to him, walking out of the bathroom and standing across from him. "Got a bit lonely, did you?"

Steve laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

She folded her arms, leaning against a set of draws. "I'm not going to lie, and say that it wasn't hard for us, the Commandos, after we lost you, but it was just one of those things. War is hell. And we wanted to make sure that we didn't let anyone die in vain, so we just kept working hard to make things right."

He nodded, looking up at her and smiling. "So, they wiped you from existence?"

Rhea was thoughtful for a moment, considering how much time she had to tell him what he obviously wanted to know. "After the start of Operation Paperclip, Peggy and I sat down and spoke about what we needed to do. Chester and Howard, both were stubborn old mules, and neither would listen to reason. You know what they were like, Chester in particular. So, Peggy and I decided I needed to make a scene about it and refuse to work for SHIELD anymore. I made enough of a scene in front of Chester and Howard, proclaiming I refused to be apart of the organization anymore if they were to go down that path, so they would let me go."

"How did they take that?"

She grinned. "How do you think? Chester was furious, his little project was getting too big for her boots. Women's emotions and all that," she replied, rolling her eyes. Steve gave a light laugh, shaking his head. "So, when I finally said I was leaving, they threatened to wipe me from the records. I was fine with that, I'm a vampire, the last thing I want is people knowing about it. So, everything was deleted, any trace of me from standard SHIELD and SSR records."

Steve furrowed his brow and pinned Rhea with an expectant look. "Standard records?"

Rhea grinned again. "If you were to know where to look, you would be able to find record of me, but you would have to have a very, very high clearance. Or be privy to one Margaret Carter's records."

Steve raised his eyebrows before smiling. "So, she really did make you her spy."

"She did. She even filtered funds for the project, known as 'Shadow'. Those funds were filtered to me, to ensure that I could be equipped for anything necessary and considering some of the shit I've come up against, it was needed. Honestly, I'm surprised Chester and Howard didn't actually send someone to try and physically wipe me from existence."

"Let's not joke about that." Steve looked thoughtful for a moment. "So, even with Peggy in the state she's in, are those funds and equipment still available."

"I saved a lot of the funds, budgeting some for equipment and tech, but since this shit has gone down, the transfers have been cut. I daresay HYDRA have put a hold on everything and are trying to figure out what Project Shadow is right now, as we speak. However, I always knew that at some point I would need to have funds for something big, so I've got a rather large sum sitting in several accounts in case of emergencies…this seems like one?"

"We should move then."

Steve went to stand up, but Rhea was quick to put a hand-out and stop him. "There is one thing, you should probably know."

He looked at her expectantly, settling back onto the bed. "What?"

"The man that killed Fury, have you found out anything about him yet?" she asked, curious to know what he might have learnt in the last 24 hours.

"Only that he's a ghost story."

She took a deep breath. "That he is." She recalled all the intel she had gathered on him, and the one run in with him she had previously. "The thing is –"

Before she could explain, Natasha opened the door, poking her head around it to look at them. "We found Sitwell, he's got a meeting with the Senator downtown."

Steve was on his feet quickly. "What time?"

"An hour from now."

"We've got to move," Steve ordered, looking to Rhea. "We can talk about this later, I need you to get to the military base and get that equipment out."

Rhea sighed, before standing up and nodding to Steve. She had a feeling she was going to regret not telling him now, but she also didn't want to deal with the consequences of his reaction either. "You got it, Captain."

* * *

Steve watched from the balcony of a building across the street, as Jasper Sitwell walked out of a restaurant next to the Senator. He felt sick to his stomach, knowing that a member of congress was apart of HYDRA.

"So, Rhea, how well do you know her?" Natasha asked, leaning against the ledge with her back to the restaurant and pinning Steve with a sly expression.

"Longer than you," Steve answered curtly. He didn't feel right, talking about his former Lieutenant behind her back.

"What's she like? She's pretty," Natasha asked coyly, smirking at Steve.

He sighed and looked at the red head with disdain. "Can we not do this again, now?"

"What? You said you were looking for someone with similar life experience, you can't get more similar than your old Lieutenant, right? She's like, the same age, isn't she?"

He smirked then, looking back towards Sitwell as the Senator leaned in to say something in his ear. "She's older, actually."

"What?" Natasha asked, looking surprised. "How can she be older than you?"

"She's a vampire." He continued to watch as the Senator left, leaving Sitwell to answer his phone. He glanced sideways at Natasha. "You're up."

She smirked, pulling out a small device that looked just like a pen. She pointed it carefully, before pressing a button on the side of the metal tube. He looked back to Sitwell, seeing a red dot on his tie. Sitwell looked around in panic, before walking towards the meeting point.

"Well, she's a pretty vampire."

"All vampires are pretty, so she tells me, it's to seduce their prey," Steve said in an offhand manner as he watched Sitwell walking. He glanced over at Natasha to see how she might react to the piece of information.

"Huh, makes sense. Still, she obviously doesn't see you as prey, so maybe something else?"

Steve couldn't help but feel annoyed at Natasha for trying to push him towards Rhea. She was essentially Peggy's best friend for the whole time he knew Rhea as Sarah Jones. And while he didn't have much experience with women, he knew that you never touched best friends. "Let's go."

They both turned and hurried down from the roof, but when they got to the car, Rhea was already there.

"Afternoon." She had Sitwell pinned to the car in a dark alley. "His suit is awfully well pressed for a SHIELD man."

"Yeah, he doesn't like to get his hands dirty," Natasha sneered, looking pleased at Sitwell's position.

"Who the hell are you? Captain Rogers, what do you think you're doing?" Sitwell demanded.

Rhea's eyes shifted to Steve and a mischievous smile spread across her lips. "Steve, would you like me to take him up to the roof for you?"

Steve raised an eyebrow, before he realized what she was asking. She wanted to toy with him a little herself. She had seen everything this man had done as a HYDRA agent, and she wanted some payback.

"Well, you would probably be quicker at it."

Within a second of his answer, Rhea and Sitwell disappeared into a puff of black mist, the mist disappearing under a door to their left.

"What was that?" Sam exclaimed, jumping back in horror.

"One of her favourite party tricks," Steve replied, feeling a little proud to have his former Lieutenant back. "Come on, Sam, suit up, Natasha, let's get up there before she has too much fun with him."

* * *

Rhea misted all the way to the top floor, reforming just inside the rooftop door. She shoved Sitwell against it, noting that his heart rate was very high, possibly high enough to give an unhealthy man a heart attack.

"What the hell was that? What did you do to me?" he demanded as he checked over his body with his hands, looking around in horror.

She wrapped a gloved hand around his neck, bringing her face very close to his. "Sssshhh."

Sitwell tried to draw his face back, although he had no where to go with the door behind him. "What the hell are you? What do you want?"

"I've been following you for a very long time, Jasper," she said quietly, a cold smile on her face. "I've seen everything you've done in the name of HYDRA. And if it wasn't for orders, I would have taken care of you myself, long ago."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Would you like me to show you how I know you're lying?" she asked, grinning malevolently. When he didn't answer and began to squirm under her grasp, she quickly tightened her grip, before slowly allowing her fangs to protrude and her vampire instincts seep through her control ever so slightly. "I've been around far longer than the Captain, and you should be thankful he's here, because if he wasn't, I wouldn't bother trying to get any information from you nicely, I would just take it."

Sitwell shouted for help, making Rhea laugh loudly as she returned her fangs to normal, shoving the HYDRA agent against the door roughly as Steve and Natasha's footsteps got closer. "Good luck with that."

* * *

Steve and Natasha finally arrived at the door, Steve taking Sitwell roughly by his shirt and shoving him through the door. He threw him with such force he tumbled towards the edge of the rooftop.

"Tell me about Zola's algorithm," Steve demanded, walking towards Sitwell as he used the ledge to push himself back up. He stopped in front of Sitwell with his hands on his hips, Natasha stopping next to him and looking down over the ledge of the rooftop to the street below, while Rhea stopped and leant back against the door to the stairs with her arms folded.

"Never heard of it," Sitwell bit back. "And what the hell is she? Does SHIELD know you're harbouring an Inhuman?"

Steve glanced back towards Rhea, who seemed unperturbed by Sitwell's question. He would have to ask what an 'Inhuman' was later. He glared back at Sitwell. "What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?"

Sitwell looked incredulously back at Steve. "I was throwing up, I get seasick." Steve shoved Sitwell to the edge of the rooftop, trying to seem menacing, but apparently, he wasn't very effective as Sitwell just smiled. "Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof? Because it's really not your style, Rogers."

Steve smiled back at Sitwell. "You're right. It's not. It's hers." Steve stepped aside as Natasha moved and kicked Sitwell off the roof, causing him to plummet towards the ground screaming. They both stood there, quiet for a moment as they listened to Sitwell's screams.

"Oh, wait. What about that girl from accounting, Laura...?" Natasha asked, as Rhea walked over to them from her position against the door.

"Lillian?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at Natasha.

"Lip piercing, right?" Steve asked, before he looked at Rhea in confusion. "Wait…how…?"

"You know Lillian?" Natasha asked in surprise.

"I know of every person that has ever worked for SHIELD, and then some," Rhea answered seeming nonplussed at their surprise. Steve frowned for a moment, considering the notion. Peggy had asked her to monitor the agency, it would make sense that she had made herself familiar with the agents working for SHIELD, but even the accountants?

Natasha shrugged, before looking back at Steve. "She's cute."

"Yeah, I'm not ready for that," he answered, glancing at Rhea and noticing the shadows of a smirk spreading across her lips. Before anyone could say anything more, Sam swooped past them, wearing the Falcon Jet pack he had shown them in his classified file. He threw Sitwell back onto the roof, before coming into land.

"Impressive," Rhea complimented Sam, nodding towards the wings.

"Thanks," Sam replied proudly as the wings folded back into the pack.

Steve looked back down to Sitwell, as they all crowded around him. He raised his hand up fearfully, as if to protect himself.

"Zola's algorithm is a program...for choosing Insight's targets!"

"What targets?" Steve demanded. He had seen the Helicarriers, their arsenal was expansive.

"You!" he exclaimed, pointing at Steve, before beginning to rattle off targets. "A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa city. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future."

"The Future? How could it know?" Steve demanded.

Sitwell scoffed and laughed. "How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it." Steve looked to Natasha and Rhea in confusion, but Natasha looked just as confused as he felt. Rhea had both eyebrows raised, but her face showed no sign of any other emotion. "Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores. Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future."

Steve narrowed his eyes at Sitwell. "And what then?"

The HYDRA agent looked around desperately. "Oh, my God. Pierce is gonna kill me."

"If not, I will…" Rhea said coldly, pinning him with a cold stare.

Steve motioned at her to stop, before glaring back at Sitwell. "What then?!"

"Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time."

Steve was silent, as he looked around at Natasha, Rhea and Sam. "We've got to stop them."

"Four against the whole of SHIELD, fun odds. I'm not against it, but I've got an advantage over you guys. Think it through again, Cap," Rhea suggested, nodding to the other two.

"We are going to need a plan."

"You don't stand a chance," Sitwell mocked. Rhea kicked out at him, forcing him onto his back and pinning him with an icy glare.

"We at least need to try," Steve said, looking around at his three friends. They all glanced at each other grimly, before looking back at him and nodding.

* * *

**xo**

**Krayzee**


	6. Fighting Uphill

**Hey gang,**

**Another chapter coming your way.**

**Enjoy**

**xo**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**Fighting Uphill**

They made their way back downstairs, Sam and Natasha leading Sitwell ahead of Steve and Rhea.

"I hope you're sure about this, Steve?" Rhea murmured so the others wouldn't hear. Steve looked at her expectantly as he continued to walk down the stairs. "You know I could just sneak in there and at least stop the project if you give me the time?"

"No, we have to stop all of HYDRA and expose them. We need to shut down the entire agency and chase HYDRA to the surface," Steve replied, looking back towards Sitwell as Sam shoved him roughly down another set of stairs.

"This is going to be like fighting uphill, and people are going to get hurt, both good and bad. You know that, right?" she pressed. She was well aware of what they were up against, she had been watching and monitoring it all for the last fifty years.

"We just need to make sure that it's kept to a minimum," he answered sternly as they exited the building and headed for Sam's car.

She took a deep breath, considering what to say next. In her mind, she knew what she wanted to say, but she wasn't sure if now was the time. She needed Steve's head to be in the right place for what might be coming next. She reached out and grabbed Steve's arm, pulling him to a stop. "Promise me, one thing."

Steve looked at her expectantly. "What?"

She glanced over to the car, where Sam and Natasha were now looking back at them expectantly. "No matter what happens, don't you dare hesitate. No matter what you see, what you hear, and most of all, who you see." Steve furrowed his brow, clearly confused at her statement. "I'm going to get my bike. I'll catch up to you guys."

* * *

Steve sat in the front passenger seat, contemplating all the information Sitwell had given them, as well as Rhea's parting words. Something about the way she said it caused him concern, like she wasn't telling him something. And considering how many secrets had been exposed to him in the last twenty-four hours, it irritated him to think his former Lieutenant would hide more secrets from him.

Sitwell sat in the back seat beside Natasha, rambling out loud. "HYDRA doesn't like leaks."

"So why don't you try sticking a cork in it," Sam retorted in annoyance, glancing back in his rearview mirror as he drove.

Natasha looked at her watch before leaning forward so she could look at Steve and Sam. "_Insight_ is launching in sixteen hours. We're cutting it a little bit close here. Where did Rhea go?"

"I know. We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the Helicarriers directly," Steve responded, nodding towards Sitwell. He looked in the side mirror, trying to see if he could spot Rhea. "She said she was going to grab her motorbike and catch up to us." He noticed a black SUV behind them that seemed somewhat out of place in the daytime traffic.

"What?! Are you crazy?" Sitwell exclaimed incredulously. "That is a terrible, terrible idea."

Steve was about to mention the car behind them, when suddenly there was the sound of metal being crushed and the car shook as something very heavy landed on the roof of the vehicle, caving it in slightly. All four occupants looked up in surprise, before a metal hand reached down through the left passenger window and grabbed Sitwell, pulling him out and throwing him into oncoming traffic.

Natasha was quick to jump forwards, landing in Steve's lap as gunshots rang out and bullets rained through the roof of the car where Natasha had just been sitting. Thinking quickly, Steve reach down and pulled on the handbrake, causing the car to skid to a stop and their attacker to fall from the roof of the car, landing on the road in front of them.

He stood up slowly, a black mask over his face, and a metal arm where his left arm should be. It was the Winter Soldier. Their 'Ghost Story.'

* * *

Natasha glanced sideways at Steve. "When did you say Rhea would get here?" she asked as she quickly pulled her handgun out, looking to fire at him, but the SUV Steve had spotted earlier rammed the back of their vehicle, forcing it forwards and causing her to drop her weapon into the footwell. She reached down between Steve's legs, searching desperately for her weapon. If it wasn't for their current predicament, Steve might have felt very awkward, but his entire focus was on The Winter Soldier.

Sam slammed on the brakes in an attempt to slow them down, but to no avail. As their car was forced forwards by the SUV, The Winter Soldier jumped up, landing onto the roof of their car again, smashing his metal fist through the windscreen before pulling the steering wheel off its mounting.

"SHIT!" Sam shouted looking at Steve and Natasha in horror.

The Black Widow finally found her handgun, lifting it up and firing into the roof of the vehicle in the hopes of hitting The Winter Soldier, or at least getting him to back off. He jumped from their car, landing on the bonnet of the SUV behind them, that continued to push them along the highway. It picked up speed, clearly looking to ram them into the concrete barriers or off the overpass altogether.

Steve thought quickly, pressing his shield right up against the passenger side door, before grabbing Natasha around the middle and pushing her closer to the car door. "HANG ON!" he shouted to Sam, who was quick to follow suit, grabbing hold of Steve. Steve gripped tightly onto his shield, before taking a deep breath to prepare for what he was about to do next.

Steve pushed the door, breaking it off its hinges and causing them to go sliding along the concrete, sparks flying as the metal met the bitumen, the car forced into the air by the SUV, rolling several times before coming to rest against one of the concrete barriers.

Sam was shaken loose of Steve and Natasha, rolling away to the side as Steve and Natasha skidded to a stop. They were quick to their feet, looking back as The Winter Soldier was handed a rifle with a grenade launcher attachment by one of the men in the SUV.

He turned, aiming towards Steve and Natasha, causing Steve to shove Natasha away, before she quickly ran for cover. As the Winter Soldier fired the grenade, Steve raised his shield in an effort to protect himself from the blast. The grenade hit the shield, sending him flying backwards, high over the overpass and coming to rest in a bus that had been driving past in the street below them. The driver became distracted, driving into a busy intersection and colliding with a truck, causing the bus to tip onto its side and skid along the ground, its passengers screaming in terror.

The Winter Soldier and his HYDRA men turned their attention to Natasha and Sam, still on the overpass and trying to find cover behind abandoned cars, as The Winter Soldier fired a grenade towards them, Natasha jumping over the hood of a car as the grenade exploded. Natasha turned and fired back, drawing The Winter Soldier's attention. He raised his weapon again, firing another grenade at her. She was quick to jump away from the car she was hiding behind and leapt over a concrete barrier into oncoming traffic, ducking down low as the car exploded from the grenade.

She rolled quickly, narrowly avoiding the squealing tyres of a car as it veered to avoid her, crashing into the barrier. She kept running, rolling across the bonnet of another car that had skidded to a stop, as more shots were fired at her, the shots peppering the bonnet of the car.

Natasha continued to sprint along the highway, turning back to look as The Winter Soldier lined her up again, firing his grenade launcher. The shot hit another car that she tried to duck behind, causing the car to launch sideways over the side of the barrier, Natasha diving along with it in an effort to avoid it. She was quick to fire a grappling hook from a utility bracer hidden under her jacket sleeve, the hook embedding to the underside of the bridge. She swung down, her feet continuing to run as soon as they met the ground. She unlatched the hook from her bracer as she ran.

As she approached the other side of the bridge, she noticed the shadow of the bridge on the road in front of her, spotting The Winter Soldier's shadow looking down over the side and stopping in her tracks.

* * *

Rhea sped towards the bridge, seeing the explosions from several miles away. She pulled the helmet from her head with one hand and tossed it aside, keeping her bike steady as she wove through the halted traffic, before seeing what the commotion was up ahead.

There, looking over the side of the bridge, was HIM. Even with the mask over his face, she knew it was him, the metal arm with a red star standing out in the light of the day.

She had been trying to track him for years, in between keeping her promise to Peggy. She grit her teeth, before speeding up and heading straight for him. He was on the opposite side of the bridge to her, but she knew she needed to get to him before he saw her coming.

Ahead of her was absolute carnage, cars upturned, smoking or simply abandoned on the bridge. She spotted a perfectly placed car, upturned in her lane, and revved her bike harder, urging the bike to hit its top speed. A shot rang out ahead, and she saw him turn, ducking behind the barrier, removing his goggles.

Rhea felt her chest upheave slightly, seeing his eyes again. It had been years. She quickly focused again, steering the bike for the upturned car as he stood up to look back over the side and open fire to the ground below.

She carefully stood on the seat of her bike, before purposely hitting the car with her bike at high speed, causing the bike to tip forwards, the rear wheel being thrown up into the air and the bike to perform a somersault.

Rhea was flung forwards as the bike exploded, heading straight for The Winter Soldier as he continued to lay down fire off the side of the bridge. The Winter Soldier turned at the sound of the explosion, his eyes going wide as he saw her flying towards her.

He moved his rifle to try and fire at her, but was too slow as she crashed into him, tackling him roughly and causing them both to go crashing over the side of the bridge.

The pair landed on the roof of a car below, sending glass shards everywhere as they tried to overpower one another. His metal arm reached up, grabbing her roughly around the neck, but she was quick to slam her fist against his throat, winding him enough to jerk herself backwards and free from his metal prosthetic.

She rolled off the car, as the HYDRA operatives on the bridge opened fire on her. She sprinted towards Natasha, who was hiding behind an overturned bus, returning fire to the men on the bridge and causing them to duck away.

"Run!" Rhea shouted as she pulled her own handgun from her hip and turned, opening fire.

Natasha only hesitated for a moment, before she did as she was ordered, hightailing it away, down the road. Rhea looked towards The Winter Soldier, as he got to his feet, glaring at her.

"Well, I got your attention…" she murmured to herself, before ducking behind cover as the men on the bridge fired back at her again. She heard noises coming from inside the bus, including Steve's voice. She glanced around the bus as the shooting subsided, seeing the men on the bridge beginning to throw rappelling ropes over the side as The Winter Soldier made his way towards her, his eyes boring into hers as they met.

"Shit. Steve! Get out of there!" she shouted, turning and banging against the side of the bus as The Winter Soldier opened fire on her again. Bullets grazed her arm as she turned and made a run for it, but she paid them no mind, weaving in between cars that had stopped in the middle of the road as their occupants made a run for it.

* * *

The Winter Soldier eyed off his surroundings, taking note as civilians ran in all directions as he approached. He ignored them all.

Amongst all the yelling, he heard a woman's voice, quietly giving coordinates. He grabbed a rolling grenade from his belt as he crept towards a car to his right, activating it, before rolling it under the car, careful to keep his rifle trained at the voice as it repeated the coordinates.

The bomb exploded, causing the car to flip, and reveal that there was no one behind it. Suddenly, Natasha launched herself at The Winter Soldier, kicking away his rifle while jumping onto his shoulders and trying to loop a garrote around his throat. He managed to get a hand between the metal rope and his neck, stopping it from slicing through his skin.

With his metal arm free, he reached up, grabbing Natasha by the back of her jacket and flinging her away, causing her to smash into the side of a car. He quickly recovered, picking up his rifle again, but unable to fire it before she threw a small metal disc at him that connected to his metal arm, sending an electric shock through the cybernetic prosthetic and causing it to freeze in place.

As Natasha turned to run, Rhea appeared in front of the soldier, reaching for his rifle and reefing it from his hand, before her hand shot forward and connected with his head. He was thrown backwards into the side of a van, as she narrowed her eyes at him. "Pick on someone your own size."

He glared at her coldly, before reaching across and pulling the small disc from his metal arm, giving it a twist to reactivate its circuits. She lunged forwards again, moving to try and kick out at him, but he quickly blocked the movement, moving to punch at her with his metal hand. She ducked the swing, pulling one of her throwing knives from her thigh holster as she straightened again. He moved to try and punch her with his other arm, but she side stepped the movement, before bringing her elbow up to connect with his head and force him back up against the van again.

His metal hand shot out, grabbing her arm as she moved to slice at him with her knife, twisting it back and making her hiss with pain. She was quick to bring up her knee, connecting with his inner thigh and forcing his leg out so he collapsed to a knee. She flipped backwards so there was less pressure on her wrist and brought her knee up to connect with his face, causing his head to snap backwards with great force.

He threw her hand away, jumping back up to his feet and pulling a gun from his back. She was quick to kick at his hand, moving to punch him before he could recover, but he was able to block her with his metal arm, her hand stinging as it glanced off the shiny prosthetic. He jumped up, kicking out at her with both feet, sending her flying backwards at least thirty feet, and crashing into the side of a car with such force the car shifted several feet.

Natasha was nearby, running forwards and grabbing Rhea as she struggled back to her feet, beginning to try and drag her away. "Come on, we're no match," she hissed as Rhea tried to shake the cloudiness caused by the impact from her head.

"Don't worry about me, run, get the civilians out of here," Rhea urged, getting to her feet and pushing Natasha away as she looked back towards The Winter Soldier.

Suddenly, a shot rang out, and Natasha stumbled slightly, grabbing at her shoulder. She moved towards a car and collapsed against it, looking around wildly as Rhea hurried to her side. The smell of blood was instant, and she looked around, trying to get a read on where The Winter Soldier had gotten to.

He appeared, jumping on top of another vehicle a short distance away with a rifle raised at them.

"Get down!" Rhea ordered, shoving Natasha down before jumping up and running away from Natasha, in the hopes of drawing his fire. It worked, he opened fire at her, a few bullets hitting their target, but she ignored the pain, focused on getting him away from the injured spy.

As she sprinted, she heard running footsteps coming from her right, seeing Steve charging towards The Winter Soldier. She skidded to a stop, turning to run back towards the HYDRA assassin and help Steve.

Steve didn't stop, as The Winter Soldier noticed him when he was only a few metres away, moving to punch him with his metal hand. There was a resounding clang, as Vibranium met metal when Steve brought his shield up to bear the impact of the punch. The Winter Soldier kicked out at Steve as he moved the shield to try and attack the assassin, connecting with Steve's chest and sending him flying backwards back onto the road.

The Winter Soldier fired at Steve with his rifle, the super soldier bringing his shield up in time to take the shots, the bullets ricocheting off the Vibranium surface.

Rhea turned and sprinted towards the Soldier, as he ran out of bullets and switched weapon. He went to fire at Steve again, but Rhea jumped up, landing a flying kick before he could do so. He was thrown sideways off the car, onto the road as she landed on top the car. He rolled on the ground, turning to fire at Rhea, who took the bullet right in the chest.

* * *

She stopped, closing her eyes and biting her bottom lip, feeling the burn of the bullet in her chest. She opened her eyes again, looking back down at The Winter Soldier on the ground in front of her, before a small smirk spread across her lips.

His brow furrowed for a moment, before he noticed Steve running at him again. He turned his handgun to fire at Steve, but she jumped down, kicking out at him as she did so, knocking the gun from his hand as Steve reached them.

The two former soldiers worked together, trying to out punch the HYDRA assassin. Steve was forced to somersault when The Winter Soldier tried to flip him onto his back using the shield. Somehow, the HYDRA assassin ended up in possession of the shield and knocked Steve away, before swinging the shield at her as she tried to slip inside his guard, causing her to backflip to avoid it.

She was quick to strike again, as he turned and glared at her, swinging the shield at her again. She ducked and weaved, moving to the defensive as she tried to read his movements. When she thought she had a read on him, she sidestepped, before trying to slash at his mid-section, but he moved the shield, raising it up and catching her arm as he did so. He took the opening and thrust a leg into her chest, knocking her away.

Steve watched as Rhea was knocked backwards with a well-placed kick to the chest. He wondered if she was in great pain, it was obvious bullets didn't affect her the same way it did to normal people but having just been shot in the chest and then kicked there had to have smarted.

As she struggled to get her bearings again, The Winter Soldier turned his attention back to Steve. He considered his options, which were few and far between at this rate. He was unarmed, with the Winter Soldier bearing both an enhanced metal arm, great strength and, now, his shield.

Throwing caution to the wind, Steve charged forwards, sprinting towards The Winter Soldier. The HYDRA assassin was quick to react, using his high-tech arm to throw the shield at Steve with great force. Steve managed to dodge it, although he felt the breeze on the weapon as it zoomed past, embedding in the back of a van.

The Winter Soldier reached down to his thigh, pulling out a knife from a holster as Steve sprinted towards him, meeting him with a swing of the blade. Steve was quick to dodge it, doing his best to find an opening to counter-attack and punching at him where he could.

The HYDRA assassin was well trained, blocking his punches and kicks and countering with swift kicks or slices of his knife. Steve was being forced back as he tried to outmaneuver The Winter Soldier.

Finally, he found an opening, swinging a strong fist at the masked assassin's face and connecting, causing him to drop his knife as his head was snapped back. Before he could recover, Steve jumped up, roundhouse kicking him in the torso and causing him to be thrown back into the side of a van. He ran forward, launching himself into the air with a flying knee and knocking him back into the van again, causing the windows to shatter.

Unfortunately, The Winter Soldier was able to recover quicker than he anticipated, blocking his next swinging punch and countering with his own, forcing Steve back a step. He moved to punch again, but Steve was able to counter, catching his arm and throwing him onto the ground.

The Soldier was quick to his feet, obviously angry now, as he grabbed Steve roughly around the neck with his metal arm, the hydraulics in the arm working as he squeezed and brought Steve closer to him, before throwing him over the bonnet of a utility with great force. He jumped onto the bonnet, before moving to drop a punch to Steve's head with his metal arm.

Steve moved at the last minute, the metal hand smashing the concrete below and causing it to crumble. He got back to his feet, just as The Winter Soldier moved to attack again. He continued to duck and weave, avoiding another knife that the assassin produced.

The Winter Soldier forced him back against another van, charging at him with the knife. Steve was just able to avoid it by grabbing the assassin's arms and holding the knife away. He heard the hydraulics in his arm beginning to rev, moving his head at the last moment as the metal arm forced the knife down, causing the knife to embed in the side of the van beside his head. The Winter Soldier began to try and drag the knife towards Steve's neck, but he continued moving away until he could duck under the Soldier's arm and used his own momentum to throw him to the ground.

He turned, as Rhea reappeared at his side, pulling the shield from the van door. She glanced sideways at him, nodding at him once as she tossed it to him, before moving to charge at the HYDRA assassin. He caught it, running into the fray.

The pair worked together again, tossing the shield between each other as they worked to outmaneuver him, until finally Steve managed to catch him unprotected, his shield slicing into the metal of his arm, and Rhea kicking the knife from his hand.

Steve slid the shield back out from the Soldier's arm, bringing it up to smack the assassin in the face, before spinning around behind him, grabbing him by his chin and flinging the full weight of the man over his back.

The man spun in the air, landing roughly, but rolling back to his feet, as Rhea and Steve both turned to face him. Rhea moved to stand in front of Steve protectively, her eyes narrowed at the assassin. She saw the mask on the ground between them, Steve had managed to dislodge it.

She knew that scent, it wasn't quite the same as she remembered, but it was too similar to completely ignore, but it was the eyes, the first time seeing those eyes on the bridge that made her sure of it.

The Winter Soldier slowly turned around to face them, his long hair only partly covering his face, not enough to hide his features.

She heard Steve shift behind her, his heart rate picking up as the shock settled in. If she had a heartbeat, she was certain her's would have soared too.

"Bucky?" Steve breathed, causing Rhea to clench her fists tightly. This was what she was afraid of.

"This is not the Bucky we know, Steve."

The Winter Soldier looked between the two of them, eyeing them both off for a moment. Rhea noted his heart seemed unsteady for all of a second, before it steadied once again. "Who the hell is Bucky?" He pulled a handgun from a pocket at his hip, pointing it at Steve, but Rhea stepped in front of him, throwing a knife at him.

"No!" Steve shouted in alarm, grabbing Rhea, although far too late. The Winter Soldier blocked the knife with his metal arm, the knife harmlessly ricocheting onto the ground.

It didn't matter, she had distracted him long enough for Sam to come soaring through with his wings on, knocking the HYDRA assassin to the ground. Rhea and Steve watched as The Winter Soldier rolled several times from the force of the hit, before getting back to his feet.

He looked back at the pair, ignoring Sam as he landed nearby. Rhea took a step forward, noticing The Winter Soldier seemed hesitant for a moment, his eyes lingering on her before sliding back to Steve. Her former Captain reached out for her arm, stopping her. The Winter Soldier raised his gun again, pointing it at Steve.

Before he could fire, Rhea heard the tell-tale sound of a grenade launcher going off behind them. She grabbed Steve's hand, misting them just enough for the grenade to go through them, the grenade headed towards the Winter Soldier, exploding on impact.

She let them reform, ducking as debris fell around them, Steve covering her with his shield. She glanced up at him, his eyes telling her all his feelings, before they stood and looked towards The Winter Soldier, only to find he was gone.

The sound of sirens approaching brought Steve out of his daze, as he realized they were now in more trouble. He looked to Rhea, her chest was obviously still bleeding, but she seemed fine. Natasha on the other hand, was not looking so good.

"Rhea, can you get us out of here?" he asked, looking to his Lieutenant.

She looked apologetic. "With the daylight currently, I barely misted us enough to let the grenade through, and Nat is in no condition to run. Her heart rate is dropping rapidly and she's losing a lot of blood."

Sam furrowed his brow, looking at Rhea in concern. "You can tell from there?"

"I can smell it, that's a lot of blood." Steve looked at Rhea, seeing the slightest of red tinges to her eyes.

"Are you good?"

She looked back at him, smirking. "I'm fine. However, this could be a problem," she answered nodding towards a convoy of black SUVs with lights and sirens on as they surrounded them.

Rumlow and his STRIKE team hurried out of the vehicles, their weapons raised at them. Rhea raised her eyebrows to the sky, before raising her hands. Steve glanced up, seeing helicopters overhead. News choppers.

Steve mimicked Rhea and raised his hands, nodding to Sam and Natasha, so they knew to do the same. Rhea was right, while they cooperated, Rumlow wouldn't dare trying anything in the public eye.

"Drop the shield, Cap!" Rumlow shouted, moving towards them. "On your knees! Get on your knees! Now! Get down! Get down!" When Steve didn't move, Rumlow struck out at his knee, forcing him to the ground. Rhea was also forced down beside him, careful to keep her face down and away from the view of the new choppers. "Don't move." There was quiet for a moment, before Steve heard Rumlow mutter to his men. "Put the gun down. Not here. Not here!" The agents surrounding them lowered their weapons, instead grabbing the four of them and hoisting them to their feet before dragging them away.

* * *

**xo**

**Krayzee**


	7. About Damn Time

**Another week, another chapter ;) Only a short chapter today though.**

**Enjoy**

**xo**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**About Dam****n**** Time...**

Rhea sat quietly on the bench inside the transport van. Her hands were cuffed, as were Steve, Sam and Natasha. At the front of the van, facing them, sat two guards. One was a SHIELD agent, the other was a HYDRA agent. She smirked slightly as she glanced towards the pair.

Sitting across from the little Russian, Rhea could smell the blood that flowed from her wound, and there was a lot. Her skin was beginning to pale and she was becoming lethargic, her heart rate beginning to drop, although the SHIELD fought hard against the tide of unconsciousness that was no doubt rippling over her currently.

Beside her, Steve seemed to be battling to come to terms with what had just occurred.

"It was him. He looked right at me like he didn't even know me."

"He's not the same person." Steve turned and glared at Rhea, but she didn't meet his gaze. She was working through her own thoughts. She had been tracking The Winter Soldier's movements, she knew everything he had done in the last fifty years, and she remembered the same scent every time. She knew it, almost. The base scent, the overlay and the species were almost identical, but there was something else that tinged the scent now, a metallic hint that made it stand out even more.

It was the same scent she had found at several assassinations, including that of an old friend.

"How's that even possible? It was like seventy years ago," Sam asked, looking from Steve to Rhea.

It was quiet for a moment, before Steve answered as if the possibility had only just occurred to him. "Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43, Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall."

"Zola was trying to refine his own super soldier serum, based off an earlier attempt made by Abraham Erskine while under capture by Nazi owned HYDRA and used Bucky as a test subject," Rhea answered, still not looking at the others.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Steve look at her with raised eyebrows, before narrowing his eyes at her. "And you know that how?"

Rhea finally looked at Steve, sighing and offering him an apologetic look. "His scent. From the moment we found him, I knew something had been done to him." Steve's expression became ashen, but she continued. "I knew what had been done to him because both of your scents hold familiarities that I haven't come across in any other living species yet."

The super soldier's expression cycled through several different emotions as he seemed to fully comprehend what she was telling him, before it settled into something that resembled irritation.

"Did you tell him?"

She sighed again, before nodding and looking down at her hands. "He came to me one night, asked me to read his dreams because he knew something had happened to him at Zola's hands, but he couldn't decipher what he was seeing."

"So, he already knew?" Sam asked, furrowing his brow. She nodded again.

Steve balled his hands into fists and Rhea could hear his heart rate increasing.

"So, you knew he could survive?" Steve demanded angrily.

Rhea scoffed, fixing him with a pointed look. "No one knew he would survive. Do you think if you fell from that high up that you could survive? The only person that knew that they could survive from that height was me. You two are still HUMAN, remember?" Steve seemed taken a back for a moment, before he went quiet again, staring at the floor in front of him.

"They must have found him and..."

"None of that's your fault, Steve," Natasha murmured, her eyes beginning to droop.

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky."

Rhea noticed Natasha's heart rate was starting to drop rapidly, as was her blood pressure. She quickly kicked out at Natasha's foot, garnering everyone's attention to the SHIELD agent, including the two guards who had been quietly listening to them.

Sam, who was sitting next to her, reached up and looked at her shoulder, before looking back to the guards. "We need to get a doctor here. If we don't put pressure on that wound, she's gonna bleed out here in the truck," he demanded, raising his voice as he grew more concerned.

The guard on the left suddenly activated an electric rod, similar to the one Rumlow had tried using on her and Steve in the elevator. Sam drew back, eyeing off the electrically charged prongs, while Rhea just smiled.

The guard turned the electric rod, stabbing the electric prongs into the guard beside them, while Rhea was quick to turn, kicking the guard with enough force to knock him out even with his helmet on. The first guard turned to look at Rhea in surprise, before reaching up and pulling their helmet off.

"Ugh. That thing was squeezing my brain," Maria Hill groaned as she shook her head slightly. She glanced from Sam to Rhea with a slightly confused look on her face, before looking at Steve questioningly. "Who's this guy?"

"Really? You're not going to ask who she is?" Sam asked incredulously, motioning to Rhea.

"Obviously, she and Steve used to work together, I got that much from the conversation."

Rhea smirked, before snapping the cuffs around her wrists. "I was seriously starting to wonder what you were waiting for."

"Uh, had to make sure we were at the right spot," Maria replied, raising her eyebrows at Rhea's work with the cuffs before beginning to unlock Steve and Sam, as Rhea moved across to Natasha.

"Hey!" Sam said, grabbing Rhea's arm as she put her hand on Natasha's shoulder wound.

"Do you think you should be doing that?" Steve demanded, also moving to grab Rhea.

"Cool your jets, I'm fine," she looked at Steve. "I was a medic, remember?"

"You never had to deal with that much blood when working with us," Steve replied, narrowing his eyes at her.

"No, but before you came along all I did was patch up broken men carrying more shrapnel than an old lady going to bingo," she retorted, shrugging his hand off her before continuing to check over Natasha. "The wound itself isn't life threatening, the loss of blood is."

Maria pulled a tool from her back, before getting down on her hands and knees and seeming to check the floor. In the next instance, she activated the tool, a hot laser cutting through the metal floor. "Give me a sec, and we'll be out of here." Rhea raised her eyebrows slightly, the van was still moving, so she was intrigued to know exactly how they were planning on getting them out of there.

She turned back to look at Natasha. "Nat, I can slow the bleeding down, but I need you to trust me. My methods can be somewhat…different."

Natasha's eyes were unfocused, but she nodded. Rhea began pulling a glove from her hand, before Steve reached across again and grabbed her arm.

"What are you doing?"

Rhea sighed, looking to Steve with a bemused expression. "Steve, I'm starting to get the feeling you don't trust me?" she queried pointedly, her gaze moving from his face to where his hand rested on her arm.

"Can you blame me? You've been keeping secrets from me from the time we first met," he hissed angrily, beginning to squeeze her arm.

She raised an eyebrow at him pointedly. "I'm also the one Peggy trusted the most. She trusted me with her life, she trusted me enough to send me dark knowing I would get the job done." She narrowed her eyes at him then. "She trusted me to get you home from Krausberg, from the Zola mission, and I performed every task set to me."

His severe expression faltered for a moment, and Rhea took it as a win, pulling her arm from his grasp and looking back at Natasha, as she pulled her hand from her glove.

Natasha was looking even more pale as Rhea carefully removed Natasha's arm from her jacket so she could get better access to the wound. "I'm not gonna lie, kid, this is going to hurt."

She let her fangs grow, and behind her she heard both Steve and Sam's heart rates quicken and heard them beginning to move towards her again, but she quickly bit down on her own wrist, letting her blood flow from the wound.

Both men stopped, peering around her as she raised her hand over Natasha's shoulder, letting her blood drop onto the wound. There was a quiet hiss, and Natasha whimpered slightly as pain shot through her shoulder, her heart rate increasing again.

Before their eyes, the wound began to seal little by little.

"It's going to seal it, but a doctor might need to open you back up and see if there's any other damage inside or if the bullet is still bouncing around in there. At the very least, you're not going to bleed to death. You'll need a transfusion or two before you're back in fighting form though." Natasha was breathing heavily, but nodded, holding her shoulder and staring at it in wonder.

Rhea looked back to Steve, raising both eyebrows at him before smirking. He frowned at her, before sighing and patting her on the shoulder.

* * *

Steve helped Rhea carry Natasha through the dark tunnel, following behind Agent Maria Hill who had led them to the entrance to a bunker in a small mountain not far from the city. He still wasn't finished talking to Rhea, but right now, his concern was getting Natasha medical help.

Agent Hill had managed to cut a large hole in the floor of the van, seeming to have timed their escape perfectly, as they used a manhole at a set of lights the van stopped at to make their escape. Rhea had carried Natasha from the van, even though Steve had tried to take her, citing that she would rather have her close if the worst should happen. Once they were in the tunnel, he was quick to help her carry the small spy, so that they might move faster. He worried about Rhea's thirst, from his experience, long periods of fighting made her hungry.

As they approached the end of the tunnel, a man in a suit hurried out, his expression grave, as he saw Natasha slung between the pair.

"GSW. She's lost at least a pint," Maria called to the man as he looked over Natasha while the two carrying her continued to walk.

"Maybe two," Sam said, hurrying beside Steve.

"More like three," Rhea replied looking pointedly at Steve. He felt guilty, if he had let Rhea work straight away, perhaps Natasha wouldn't be in such a bad state.

"Let me take her," the doctor said, trying to take her.

Maria moved to walk ahead of Steve and Rhea, motioning for them to follow her instead. "She'll want to see him first."

They followed her through a doorway, which opened up into some type of large room that closely resembled a high-tech facility. Steve furrowed his brow, glancing over at Rhea. The expression on her face told him that even she didn't know about this place. She glanced back at him, giving the slightest of shrugs, before she frowned and tilted her head into the air ever so slightly.

He had seen her do that many times before. She had caught a scent. "What is it?"

"Son of a bitch…" Rhea muttered, looking at Steve with an annoyed expression on her face. She motioned for him to keep following Maria.

They rounded a screen, all three stopping and staring in stunned silence.

"About damn time." Steve gaped as he stared at Nick Fury, sitting in a bed, very much alive.

A little while later, while they all sat around the facility looking at Fury. Natasha was currently undergoing a blood transfusion, under the watchful eye of Rhea, who seemed to easily settle back into her old role as a medic, like it was just yesterday that she was working on the battlefronts of Europe. Even her eye colour barely changed, that tiny red tinge to her eyes still only just visible.

Fury was telling them about his injuries suffered during the combined attack from HYDRA agents and The Winter Soldier.

"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, one hell of a headache."

"Don't forget your collapsed lung," the doctor reminded him as he showed them an x-ray on his computer.

"Oh, let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, Natasha unable to take her eyes off Fury. "They cut you open, your heart stopped," she said quietly.

Steve knew Natasha had been the most affected by Fury's 'death, Nick Fury was the one who allowed her to work for SHIELD, after Hawkeye opted to offer her a choice other than death.

"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it," Fury answered in a matter of fact manner, seemingly unfazed by the mood in the room. Steve could feel the tension in the room, and he was certain he wasn't the only one.

He knew he was tense, for several reasons and Fury was only one of those.

"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" he asked finally, finally asking what he was sure Natasha was wondering too.

"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful," Maria answered simply, although she did look sympathetic towards them. Steve knew Maria was Fury's right-hand woman, which meant it was no surprise that she had been in on the whole charade, but while Natasha had seemed like his left, it turned out that maybe she wasn't.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead," Fury said pointedly, but then he sighed and looked apologetically from Steve to Natasha. "Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust." They were all silent again for a moment, before Fury looked over at Sam and then at Rhea. He narrowed his eye slightly, seeming to analyse her. "So…you're _Project Shadow_?"

Steve looked over at Rhea expectantly. She had said that no one knew about the project, and obviously, she was under the belief that was the truth. A look of surprise glossed over her face for a split second, but her expression soon returned to her usual melancholy appearance, not answering the former SHIELD director.

"You knew?" Steve asked instead.

"I had heard rumours, there was no official records, but there were always stories," Fury replied looking back at Steve. "Care to fill me in?"

Steve glanced back at Rhea, who met his gaze with the slightest of smirks and raised an eyebrow. He looked back to Fury. "What did the rumours say?"

"That SHIELD had its own ghost from its SSR days. One that was picking off agents one by one for some reason," Maria answered, folding her arms and looking at Rhea. "Was that the case?"

"It's really not that simple," Rhea scoffed.

"She's one of my Howling Commandos," Steve interjected, causing Maria and Fury to both look at her in surprise. "Formerly known as Lieutenant Sarah Jones, my second-in-charge, now known as Rhea Smith."

"She's not on any records," Fury commented, narrowing his eye at her again.

"Howard Stark and Colonel Phillips wiped her from the records after she left SHIELD," Steve explained.

"At the behest of one Director Margaret Carter, who wanted me to act as a contingency plan when some bad decisions were starting to be thrown around," Rhea chimed in.

"So, she's a super soldier, like you?" Fury asked.

Steve looked over at Rhea, seeking approval to tell him the truth. She smiled again, but instead of simply answering the question, her eyes began to shine blood red and her teeth extended. "Not…quite."

"Huh…a vampire. Well, I'll be."

* * *

**xo**

**Krayzee**


	8. The Boogey Man

**New chapter up today, for your enjoyment. I like this one, it's a nice little interaction between Rhea and both Steve and Natasha.**

**Enjoy**

**xo**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

**The Boogey Man**

Rhea sat on the outer edge of the cave they were hiding in, watching as the others were treated for their wounds, quietly pondering their situation, as well as what had happened in the city.

She had been tracking Bucky for years, decades even, ever since the assassination of several Russian and German scientists who had been trying to defect to the US. After arriving on scene, the first thing that had hit her was the smell…Bucky's smell.

It had been bothering her ever since, and she had even kept the discovery to herself. She had to make certain it was him before going off half-cocked on some rescue mission. She was no Steve Rogers, she was methodical and logical about everything she did.

Then there was the occasion when she had been tailing a man that had been investigating a hunch he had about HYDRA, a very correct hunch about the organisation embedded in SHIELD. It was while tailing him, she had stumbled across 'The Winter Soldier', and gone blow for blow with him, confirming her fears that it was indeed her former comrade, Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. The discovery, even providing him the opportunity to evade her as she couldn't bear to hurt the man she had fought side by side with and had been the first to accept her without fear of what she really was.

Letting him slip from her grasp was probably one of the most painful things she had experienced, the first being watching him fall from the train and was more painful than being turned into a vampire.

The problem now was, how was she going to save a man who clearly didn't know he needed saving.

Her gaze slid sideways as she heard heavy footsteps approach, seeing Steve walking towards her. He had been brooding over the far side of the facility from her, no doubt thinking about their encounter, not to mention the numerous amounts of treachery he encountered in the last 24 hours.

"Steve," she greeted calmly, noting his heart rate pick up slightly.

He looked at her coldly in reply and the aura of his mood was like a cold slap across the face. "Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded.

"Glad to see you're doing okay, Cap," she replied with a sigh, leaning her head back against the wall, but not taking her eyes from his. She knew this was going to be a fun conversation. Steve could be so hard-headed, it was painful.

"He was my friend." He stopped in front of her, his hands on his hips. Rhea could tell he was trying to be mad at her, but she could sense he was more upset than anything else.

"As much as I hate to admit it, he was my friend too," she replied, her chest tightening strangely at the admission. "But he asked me to keep it between us, so I did as he asked."

Steve furrowed his brow, his mouth moving slowly as if he wanted to respond but he wasn't sure how. Finally, he moved and sat down beside her, sliding onto the bench and allowing a gap between them, his shoulders slouching as he stared into space. "I couldn't even help him when he was right next to me."

"It's not your fault, Steve." It was the truth, neither of them could have known this was going to happen to Bucky. Neither knew what Zola had actually done to him, neither thought he would survive the fall.

He sighed again, before turning to look at her. She turned her head to meet his gaze, expecting more questions about Bucky. "Are you okay? Do you need to eat? Maybe the doc has an extra blood bag?"

Rhea's mouth fell open slightly as she stared at Steve, before she remembered herself and closed her mouth quickly. This man beside her was incredible, just moments ago he had discovered that not only was his best friend still alive, but she had known about it and kept the truth from him. Yet, here he was, asking her if she was needing to feed. She did her best to suppress the small smile that tried to creep out. "Thank you, its fine."

"Are you sure? I know that expending a lot of energy makes the thirst stronger," he pressed, still looking at her. She noted he was paying particular attention to her eyes. They must have been showing a little red. She certainly wasn't dying of hunger, but there was a little tickle to her throat and if she was human still, she might have been considered as peckish.

She smiled, before pulling down the zipper of her armoured suit slightly. Steve suddenly snapped his head away, his heart rate quickening and his cheeks picking up a healthy red sheen to them. She sniggered quickly. "Relax, Steve. You're not my type." She lifted a platinum necklace with a small bar attached to the base of it.

Steve looked at the necklace, raising his eyebrows. "What's that?"

"Well, obviously, this line of work and the way technology runs the world these days, vampirism would be harder to hide if I actually still drank blood like I used to. Everywhere has cameras. So, this…" She lifted the bar, showing him two holes in the top of the bar and the soft plastic bubble that could just be seen inside it. Its contents was a bright blue liquid, that swished around as she moved it, making it almost mesmerizing. "Offers me the sustenance I need. Generally speaking, on an extremely active mission, it would last me around twenty-four hours before I would even feel like I might need to consider feeding again."

She let her fangs grow, so their pointed tips were well exposed, before placing her teeth into the bar and applying pressure. Soon, the metallic flavor of the liquid inside dripped onto her bottom lip and she began to suck in the sustenance. Once she was certain it was gone, she allowed her teeth to shrink again and sighed, content again.

"How long have you been living like this now?" he asked, seemingly impressed as he held out his hand so she might let him look at the necklace. She leant forward so he could take a better look.

"The last three decades or so. Peggy found a talented scientist and explained the needs, he ran tests, experiments and all, and deciphered that it wasn't so much the blood I needed to feed on, but something that was in the blood. And that liquid is basically a pure form of that," she explained as he twisted it between his finger and his thumb.

"Okay, so is that why you drink coffee now?" he asked, looking at her with a wry expression.

She pressed her lips together and looked at him innocently. "I've picked up a few things along the way to help me fit into society a little easier," she replied, shrugging. "Plus, that stuff is actually really nice. The doctor believed that by drinking this formula, it's possible it was changing the way my body works too."

"So, the skin colour…?" he asked slowly, seeming unsure if it was something he should ask.

She smiled, ungloving a hand and unzipping a sleeve to show him. Her skin had darkened to resemble something more likely to be seen amongst those of her former homeland, albeit still a bit lighter. "Right, although, make up can make a difference too."

Steve looked her over one last time, before offering her a small smile and letting go of her necklace. "You seem happier."

She furrowed her brow slightly, taken aback by Steve's words. For seventy years, she hadn't seen him or Bucky. For thirty, she had gone without the Howling Commandos as each of them dropped off the perch either from sickness from their time in war, or just age. And in the last decade she had slowly watched her best friend struggle as her memory decayed.

Of course, Steve wouldn't realise that just yet. He would just see the woman that she had become as she had to adjust to all these changes, and the changes in the world too. She was not the same woman he had met all those years ago, time had changed her, technology and medical improvements had changed her.

Thanks to the doctor, she had learnt how to synthesize something suitable to feed on, and this alone had improved her way of living. It provided her with more opportunities to survive for longer without feeding as well as not having to feed on blood.

That, in itself, probably did make her happier.

"Yeah, I guess I am. In a way."

He smiled at her again, before looking away. She noted his expression seemed to become sad again. "What are we going to do about Bucky?"

Her heart sank again. Poor Steve, he was really struggling with Bucky being alive. "He's not Bucky anymore. He's 'The Asset' or 'The Winter Soldier'." Her investigations had told her that the man they had met in the city, was a man that was a weapon, he could be armed and stored at any given time by the people that controlled him. He executed any order given to him without a second thought.

"No, he is Bucky, and we are going to save him."

Rhea glanced sideways, taking in Steve as he sat beside her. He wasn't kidding. He wasn't going to give up on Bucky.

She sighed. "Look, if we can, we will, but at the end of the day, we need to do what we need to do, Steve. We can't save one at the risk of many."

He looked sadly at the ground in front of him. "I know."

* * *

They sat around listening to Fury as he looked at a photo in his hand. Steve noticed a flicker of anger and betrayal drift across his features for all of a second before it was gone and he looked at the image in resignation.

"This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize. He said, 'Peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility.' See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues," Fury said, throwing the picture onto a table.

There was silence for a moment, before Natasha finally spoke up. "We have to stop the launch."

Nick raised his eyebrows expectantly. "I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore," he replied, but stood up and moved to a workbench where a briefcase was positioned. He opened it, turning it to show three large computer chips securely fixed to it.

Sam raised his eyebrows, nodding towards the briefcase. "What's that?"

Maria moved forward, activating a screen close by, which came to life with a diagram moving across the screen. "Once the Helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with_ Insight_ satellites becoming fully weaponized."

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own." Fury motioned to the three chips.

"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational a whole lot of people are gonna die," Maria explained, a short shake of the head as she looked over the diagram herself.

Fury looked seriously around at the group. "We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA. We need to get pass them, insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left..."

Steve frowned and looked at Fury sternly. "We're not salvaging anything. We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick, we're taking down SHIELD."

"SHIELD had nothing to do with it," Fury argued.

"SHIELD had everything to do with it. Peggy saw it, I saw it. I wouldn't be sitting here if SHIELD didn't have something to do with it," Rhea argued, backing Steve up as she stood and moved beside him. "_Project Shadow_ was all about SHIELD being compromised."

Steve looked at Fury pointedly. "You gave me this mission, this is how it ends. SHIELD's been compromised, you said so yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed."

"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed," Fury objected, folding his arms in defiance.

"A little too late, don't you think?" Rhea retorted huffily. Steve couldn't help but notice that his former Lieutenant was much more sarcastic and occasionally sardonic than he remembered. Gone was the quiet and reserved girl he once knew, replaced with a battle-hardened warrior who didn't take stick from anyone.

Steve looked back at Fury, raising his eyebrows as he spoke. "And how many paid the price before you did?"

Fury looked at Steve for a moment, before sighing. "Look, I didn't know about Barnes."

Steve stiffened slightly at the mention of his friend, before sighing and putting his hands on his hips. "Even if you had, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that too?" When Fury didn't answer, Steve looked at him pointedly. "SHIELD, HYDRA, it all goes."

Steve could feel the tension in the air as everyone watched the pair, and he was well aware of Rhea shifting slightly beside him, as if to step towards Fury, but Maria spoke up first. "He's right." Fury furrowed his brow, looking from Hill to Natasha and then to Sam.

Sam scoffed. "Don't look at me. I do what he does, just slower," he said hastily, motioning to Steve.

Steve heard Rhea snigger beside him at Sam's comment, while the ghost of a smirk flitted across Natasha's lips. Fury sighed, before throwing his hands in the air. "Well... Looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain."

* * *

Rhea sat outside, enjoying the fresh air outside of the stuffy cave they were using as their base of operations. They had come up with a plan, it wasn't much of a plan, but it was the best they could do, considering their disadvantage of being six against two whole organisations essentially.

She heard light footfalls coming from inside the cave, not turning as the little red-haired spy appeared through the doorway. Natasha stopped and Rhea met her gaze, raising an eyebrow expectantly as she noted the little Russian seemed to want to say something.

"So, do you think we can do this?" Natasha asked, leaning against the wall beside the entry.

Rhea offered a sympathetic smile. "Worried?"

"Honestly, a little." Her hand drifted to the left side of her abdomen, seemingly subconsciously. "The last time I tangled with The Winter Soldier, I didn't exactly come out unscathed."

"If Steve, Sam and I can do our job right, you won't need to worry about him. You should be more concerned about Pierce, he's cunning and will do anything to come out on top. That's how he got to where he is," Rhea warned, standing up from her spot and moving to walk past the smaller woman.

"I'll keep that in mind," Natasha replied, looking thoughtful for a moment.

Rhea stopped beside Natasha, glancing sideways at her. "That data dump is going to expose a lot of secrets, yours included. I hope you're ready for that."

Natasha's head whipped around to look back at Rhea, her eyes wide for a split second, before she schooled her expression. "I'm ready. If it means making up for everything that's happened, I will do it," she answered, before narrowing her eyes slightly. "But what about you?"

Rhea winked. "Remember…I don't exist according to SHIELD and HYDRA records. If Bucky is a ghost story, I'm simply the boogey man." She continued inside the cave, smiling to herself as she began to prep for their next mission.

* * *

Steve looked over the side of the bridge overlooking the valley where their cave was situated, recalling one of his fondest memories with Bucky. It was when his mother had passed away from illness, leaving him all alone.

Bucky had attended the funeral with him, but Steve had walked home by himself, only to find Bucky waiting for him when he got home.

Of course, Bucky always worried for him. He had always been there to help Steve, save him when the bullies were too big, which was pretty much always.

He recalled Bucky's words before parting that day.

"_Thank you, Buck, but I can get by on my own."_

"_The thing is, you don't have to." Bucky reached out and patted Steve on the shoulder, before squeezing it sympathetically. "I'm with you til the end of the line, pal."_

"He's gonna be there, you know?" Sam's voice cut in. Steve turned to see Sam approaching him, a sympathetic expression on his features.

Steve sighed. "I know."

Sam sighed, leaning onto the railing of the bridge and looking down towards the cave. "Look, whoever he used to be, the guy he is now, I don't think he's the kind you save. He's the kind you stop."

Steve pressed his lips together, not answering straight away. Rhea appeared from the cave entrance, looking around, before her eyes turned up towards them. "I don't know if I can do that."

"Well, he might not give you a choice. He doesn't know you."

Steve saw Rhea's eyes narrow slightly and a frown appear on her face. She could hear them, he knew her sharp predator ears could. And apparently, she didn't really like what she heard either. The difference was, he knew she would do what needed to be done. Steve wasn't sure he could. "He will," he reassured, not just Sam, but Rhea and even himself. He wanted to save Bucky. "Gear up, it's time."

Steve turned and began walking back along the bridge in the same direction Sam had come from. "You gonna wear that?" Sam asked wryly, Steve practically hearing the smirk on Sam's face, even though his back was to him.

Steve grinned, turning to look down at Rhea down below. "No. If you're gonna fight a war, you gotta wear a uniform."

He saw her eyes light up, and then she disappeared into a puff of black mist.

* * *

**xo**

**Krayzee**


	9. Man of Logic

**Evening all,**

**It's getting action-packed now, and soon, the 'Winter Soldier' saga will be coming to a close.**

**I'm still working out which story to go through next, I'm kind of on the fence, but coming into Christmas trading, I will probably not be able to write as often anyway (Or I will be half asleep when I do.)**

**For now, here is the next chapter.**

**Enjoy**

**xo**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**Man of Logic**

Rhea strode through the corridors slightly ahead of Sam and Steve, with Maria Hill following up the rear of the column.

"You know, recon was kinda my thing," Sam murmured sounding slightly perturbed, as she listened carefully for the sound of any approaching footsteps. She stopped just short of a corner, holding up a fist to signal the others to stop, before taking a silent step forward.

She recognized the scent, it was a STRIKE agent. She smirked to herself, before quick as lightning, reaching out with a hand, and grabbing him about the throat, reefing him around the corner. She pinned him against the wall, snapping the cable of his comms unit to ensure he couldn't call for help.

He looked around wildly, before his eyes settled on Steve, his expression suddenly changing to concern.

"Agent Grossman here, has been working for HYDRA for, what was it? Six years now?" Rhea whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Steve stepped forward, eyeing the man in Rhea's hand with a stern expression. "You chose the wrong side."

The man's expression changed, and he began to smile, even through the pain of Rhea squeezing his throat. "Hail HYDRA!" he gasped.

"Ugh." Rhea didn't wait for an order from Steve. She smashed his head against the wall, before letting him drop to her feet.

"Damn it, Rhea," Steve hissed, looking at her in annoyance.

"What? He's fine, he's just out for the time being." She rolled her eyes and shrugged, before sifting through his pockets. She grabbed a swipe card, a radio and then lifted him up easily with one hand. Sam hurriedly opened a nearby janitor's closest and she tossed him in unceremoniously. "I mean, the smell of chemicals in there might do him over, but I certainly didn't."

Sam chuckled quietly, while Steve shook his head, before turning to continue towards their objective.

As they approached their intended objective, Rhea looked to Maria. "You're up."

The wily SHIELD agent set to work immediately, working on her tablet with quick hand movements. "Jammer going off in 3, 2, 1…"

Rhea flinched as she heard several different comm units go off with a high-pitched squeal at once, Steve raising his eyebrows at her expectantly.

"You good?"

"It worked," she muttered, giving her head a small shake to rid herself of the chill that went up her spine from hearing the sound. Sam moved to stand to Steve's right as they approached the door, Rhea moving to stand on the other side of Sam and keep guard while Maria moved to stand beside Steve, pulling her handgun from her holster.

There was the sound of a security pad activating, before the door before them swung open, Sam pointing his rifle and Maria her gun towards the technician standing on the other side, a confused look on his face.

"_Triskelion command request we clear the area for launch," _a PA announcement went out over the comms in the room.

"Excuse us," Steve said, nodding to the technician, who immediately moved his hands into the air with a look of awe on his face, moving sideways to let them enter the room.

The technicians all became silent as the foursome entered the room, Rhea coming in last. She noted that a majority of the attention did seem to shift to her as she moved through the room, analyzing every screen that was active as she went.

Maria Hill hurried over to one technician in particular and motioned to him to move, but he hesitated. Rhea moved faster than the eye could see, appearing behind the technician and hauling him from his seat by his shirt so his feet were dangling in the air.

"We don't have time for your internal conflict, my friend. If you and your colleagues could see yourself to the side, I will personally weed out the HYDRA agents in your midst," she said, without even looking at him, but looking around the room.

She knew the one she was holding wasn't one, but there was at least one in the room. Sure enough, at the mention of finding him, one technicians heart beat spiked higher than the others and she noted his eyes dart around the room.

"Or perhaps, he will weed himself out…" she murmured, lowering the SHIELD technician to the ground, and motioning for him to move aside. The other technicians began to rise and moved too, but Rhea stepped out in front of the HYDRA technician. "If you don't mind," she said smiling at him.

"Is he the one?" Maria asked, raising her eyebrows expectantly.

"He sure is." Before anyone could respond, Maria had knocked him in the back of the head with the butt of her handgun, before turning and continuing to type away on the computer she had commandeered.

Rhea frowned slightly, but shrugged, before looking to Steve with raised eyebrows. Sam moved forwards and dragged the HYDRA technician out of the way as Rhea moved towards the remaining technicians to keep an eye on them.

Maria soon stepped back, motioning to the microphone in front of her and nodding to Steve. He began walking towards Maria.

"Got one of your speeches ready?" Rhea asked expectantly, remembering how good Steve was at motivating their team during their time together in Europe.

He took a deep breath. "Let's hope so," he replied, before stepping up and leaning down towards the microphone. "Attention, all SHIELD agents. This is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over the last few days, some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. But I think it's time you know the truth. SHIELD is not what we thought it was, it's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader."

Rhea began walking around the room again as Sam moved back into position to watch the technicians again, analyzing the screens that were monitoring different parts of the Triskelion. There were different reactions, from confused, to angry. She spotted Rumlow in one screen, narrowing her eyes as she saw him begin to hurry down a corridor.

"The STRIKE and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you."

As Rhea continued to watch the screens around her, she noticed more people looking suspiciously around them, and others, concerned. Steve's speech was working. She knew that deep down, those that had felt like they were honestly working for the good of SHIELD, didn't want to believe that Steve had gone bad.

"They almost have what they want: absolute control. They shot Nick Fury and it won't end there. If you launch those Helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way, unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high, it always has been, and it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not." Steve stood up again, looking around the room at his three cohorts as Maria shut off the microphone.

"Did you write that down first, or was it off the top of your head?" Sam asked, grinning at Steve with a look of awe on his face.

"You've still got it, Steve," Rhea complimented, smirking proudly, but not taking her eyes off a screen as she watched Rumlow.

"Council members are turning on Pierce," Maria announced, watching a different screen. Her eyes went wide. "He's got a gun."

Rhea frowned as she continued to watch Rumlow as several STRIKE agents joined him, before she realized where he was heading. "Rumlow is headed to the control room." She moved to look at another screen, scanning it quickly. "Agent 13 is there, along with some other agents and technicians."

"He's going to try and get _Insight_ launched," Maria warned.

"We have to get the chips in place," Rhea agreed. "Now."

Steve looked around at his three cohorts. "Let's go."

* * *

Steve ran through the corridors as they hurried to make their way to the Helicarriers. Occasionally, a rogue HYDRA agent would take a pot shot at them, but they were quickly dispatched, usually by Rhea who was running ahead of he and Sam.

Maria's voice came through their comms. "They're initiating launch."

They soon burst through the doors leading outside to the tarmac. Spread out before them were the three bays that housed the Helicarriers, all were open or opening and the Helicarriers beginning to power up and rise.

"Hey, Cap, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys?" Sam asked, looking around with a bewildered look as he ran.

"If they're shooting at you, they're bad," Steve answered, continuing to run. He heard Rhea huff beside him before she chuckled.

"Ever the man of logic, Steve."

Sam powered up his Falcon suit, before launching into the sky and peeling off to infiltrate IN-02, while Steve and Rhea both jumped down and landed on the flight deck of IN-03 as it began to rise from its moorings.

"Aren't you supposed to be infiltrating IN-01?" Steve demanded as they both began running.

"You've forgotten about the first ever mission given to me? It's still number 1 priority at this point." They continued making their way towards the control centre of the IN-03, splitting up as HYDRA agents opened fire on them.

Steve snuck around wide of the body of agents, while Rhea made her way through them, quickly and calmly, managing to avoid any shots being fired at her.

Over on the IN-02, they heard all the aircraft's weaponry come to life. "Hey, Cap, I found those bad guys you were talking about."

Steve knocked out a HYDRA agent that he managed to catch off guard. "You okay?"

"I'm not dead yet."

A body was flung across the tarmac of the IN-03, coming to rest at Steve's feet. He looked up to see Rhea standing on one of the aircraft waiting on the tarmac. "If I go help him, you going to do something stupid?"

Steve flinched slightly at her jab. "Possibly…"

She narrowed her eyes and seemed to consider him for a moment. They heard another shout of surprise from Sam, and Rhea shrugged. "I'll hurry then." She lifted the cockpit door, and stepped into the aircraft, before starting the engines. Steve took the chance to make a run for the mainframe, continuing to avoid shots being fired in his direction by the rogue HYDRA agents.

* * *

Sam looped in an effort to evade the shots fired by IN-02. He saw another cannon ahead of him turn and begin to power up. He stopped fast, before shooting upwards and zig-zagging through the sky, dodging blasts as he went.

"Falcon, status?" Maria's voice came through the comms.

He looped again, before turning and diving back down. "Engaging." He flew closer towards one of the cannons as another fired, causing the blast to take it out. He grinned as he soared around the stern of the ship. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a jet flying towards him. He glanced over his shoulder, just in time to see it open fire at him. "Oh shit."

He began flying evasive manoeuvres again, trying to avoid the shots fired by the Quinjet tailing him. He felt the heat off the blasts as the pilots aim seemed to get closer and closer as he wove in and out of the turbines and antennas that hung below the Helicarriers.

He dodged right, only just avoiding another blast, when he saw another Quinjet appear ahead of him, screaming towards him. "Oh, man."

Over the comms he heard Steve. "Alpha locked."

"Falcon, where are you now?" Maria asked again.

"Little to the left," Rhea's voice came through Sam's comms, and he was quick to veer left as the Quinjet in front of him opened fire. The blast hit the pursuing Quinjet, causing it to explode.

"Woooo!" Sam shouted, spinning in the air as he watched Rhea's Quinjet bank sharply in an effort to avoid the explosion. "Thanks for the assist!" Sam managed to fly down, avoiding anymore shots fired by the cannons as they targeted Rhea, and landed onto IN-02's server bay. He opened the server, quickly ripping out one of the aiming chips and replacing it. "Had to take a little detour. I'm in. Bravo locked." Before he could celebrate further another Quinjet headed his way and started shooting at him. "Aw, Shit! Rhea!" Sam took off, just avoiding getting hit.

The jet continued to pursue him, the blast almost knocking him from the sky. "Sam, go up!" Rhea shouted. He did as she ordered, flying high into the sky while watching the jet pursuing him over his shoulder to ensure he avoided being shot out of the sky, even though he had no idea what it would achieve. "Incoming…"

He looked ahead of him, and saw the Quinjet she was piloting flying straight for him at high speed.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed, quickly banking in an effort to avoid it. He watched as the canopy opened, and Rhea dove out. The jet below had no way of avoiding the diving jet, and there was a massive explosion.

Sam was quick to dive, speeding towards Rhea as she fell towards the nearest carrier. He caught her by the hand, and she looked up with a smirk as he decelerated their descent. "I think I scratched it."

"I'll say," Sam replied with a grin. He swooped down, going to drop her onto the runway of IN-01. "Need some help?"

"Go and make sure the old man is alright, I'll take care of this one."

"Roger that, Lieutenant." She narrowed her eyes at him, making her look more exotic, before she smirked and gave a nod of her head. She turned and ran as he took off.

* * *

**I kind of love that finish.**

**xo**

**Krayzee**


	10. He's My Friend

**This story is getting addictive again, can't get enough of it, although I'm still debating about what story to write into next.**

**Enjoy**

**xo**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**He's My Friend**

Rhea ran along the carrier's hardtop, taking out HYDRA agents as she ran, several bullets grazing her but she paid them no mind as she continued.

"Charlie Carrier's forty-five degrees off the port bow," Maria called through comms. Two shots fired in the background over the comms. "Six minutes."

Rhea ducked behind some shipping containers by the stairwell down to the control centre bay. "What are you boys up to?" she asked, peering around the corner and seeing several HYDRA agents waiting for her.

She heard several shots fired from the adjacent Helicarrier and looked up curiously.

"Hey, Sam, I'm gonna need a ride!" Steve shouted, sounding breathless, as if he was sprinting.

"Roger! Let me know when you're ready."

Sam swooped by Rhea as she reached up and grabbed an agent who was attempting to ambush her from on top of the shipping container by the foot. She dragged him down, causing him to fall on his head, and she quickly punched at the base of his neck, hard enough to put him out for a little while.

As she stood up, there was the sound of an RPG being fired, followed closely by an explosion. She looked up to see Steve launch himself off the side of the carrier in order to escape the explosion. "I just did!" Rhea pulled grenades from her belt, pushing the activation button on them and throwing them over the top of the container, before sprinting for the edge of the Helicarrier to look for Steve. Sam dove quickly, just in time to catch Steve before he crashed to the ground, he shouted with the effort, but began flying himself and Steve up onto the IN-01. He dropped Steve beside Rhea, landing beside him.

"You know, you're a lot heavier than you look," Sam commented, as Steve glanced over at Rhea, offering her an expectant look, as if to check on her. She returned his unsaid question with a small nod, before Steve continued walking along the runway of IN-01, heading towards the stairwell to the control centre bay.

"I had a big breakfast," Steve retorted.

"And what was your excuse way back in Krausberg?" Rhea asked smirking slightly. He turned his head slightly to glance at her, but before Steve could respond to her sly question, a familiar scent caught her attention, as it blew by on the breeze. "Watch out!"

She jumped forwards, pushing Sam aside and shouldering into Steve hard enough to fling him forwards just as The Winter Soldier appeared, lunging at him from behind a stack of equipment. He caught Rhea with a shoulder charge, knocking her through a railing and over the edge of the Helicarrier.

* * *

Steve glanced at his former friend as he turned to face him, before turning and running for the edge after Rhea, jumping off the edge.

"Steve!" Sam tried to follow after the pair, but as he moved to fly off and help Steve, The Winter Soldier grabbed one of his wings and threw him back. He quickly recovered, stopping himself from slamming against the deck.

Sam hovered in the air, opening fire at the HYDRA assassin, causing him to flip out of harms way and into cover. Sam tried to take the opportunity to fly away, after Rhea and Steve, but The Winter Soldier fired a grappling hook at Sam, catching onto his right wing and pulling him back down onto the deck. He proceeded to tug on the grappling hook, ripping off the wing from the Falcon suit.

Sam was quick to his feet looking to fight back, as the assassin charged towards him, but the HYDRA weapon was faster, reaching him before he was prepared and aimed a well-placed kick at Sam's chest, sending him flying backwards and off the edge of the Helicarrier deck. Sam plummeted towards the ground at great speed, spinning out of control due to the resistance from his remaining wing. He reached up, disengaging it, to try and take control of his descent, before activating his parachute. He screamed as the ground still rushed towards him quickly, pulling on his parachute handles in an effort to try and decrease the speed of his descent. He landed roughly, but without injury, on the Triskelion rooftop.

"Rhea? Cap? Cap, come in?" Sam called through the comms. "Are you okay?"

Steve clung to the side of the Helicarrier, having managed to catch the side of the engine as he had fallen. Rhea lay on top of the same engine, not moving. She had taken the full force of the hit from Bucky, knocking her head as she had tumbled over the side. She may have been immortal, but even she could be knocked out with a decent blow to the head.

"Yeah, I'm here!" he grunted, pulling himself back up on top of the engine casing. "I'm still on the Helicarrier. Rhea's safe, if a little out of it right now. Where are you?" He moved towards Rhea quickly and checked her over, noticing a bruise to her face already beginning to lighten in front of his eyes.

"I'm grounded, the suit's down," Sam replied, sounding remorseful. "Sorry, Cap."

"Don't worry, I got it." Steve replied standing back up and looking around for a way back in towards the control centre.

There was a groan from his left. "We've got it…" he turned and saw Rhea sit up, moving her head and shoulders around, before rubbing her head. "That hurt."

Steve couldn't help but smile in relief. He hurriedly knelt back down to check on her. "You good?"

"I'll live." He sighed, shaking his head slightly at her rather dismal attempt at a joke. He offered her a hand, which she took, quickly getting to her feet. She looked up towards the deck of the Helicarrier and Steve followed her gaze. Bucky was looking down at them. "He's not going to stop, Steve."

"He will." She looked back at him, her eyebrows raised expectantly. "I know he will." Bucky disappeared from view and he looked back to Rhea.

"Your optimism is still annoyingly high for someone who has probably been betrayed far more than the average human," she said, beginning to check over her supplies. She pulled out one of her throwing knives. He recognized it from their time together in Europe.

He sighed. She was right, he had been betrayed far more in the last 24 hours than he cared to recall, but this was Bucky. He had always been there for Steve, and now Steve was going to do everything he could for him.

They began running for the control centre of IN-01, weaving their way through the catwalks beneath the carrier, facing very little resistance as they went.

Steve lead the way, finally finding the main catwalk and running along it, Rhea close behind him. He slowed as he approached the control centre, Rhea moving up close behind him.

Ahead of them, Bucky stood between them and the control centre.

Steve glanced sideways at Rhea, whose hands drifted down to her thigh holsters. He looked pointedly at her, he didn't want her opening fire on his best friend.

"He's not the same person, Steve," she warned.

He put a hand on her arm, before looking back at Bucky and beginning to step forward. "People are gonna die, Buck. I can't let that happen." Bucky didn't acknowledge his words, staring back at him, no emotion showing on his face. "Please, don't make me do this."

Steve and Bucky continued to stare at each other, until finally, Steve threw his shield. Bucky was quick to raise his metallic arm up, causing the shield to ricochet back towards Steve. "Go, now Rhea!"

The vampire jumped over the side of the railing, catching one of the supporting beams below and swinging herself down, before making her way along under the catwalk as if she was on a set of monkey bars, moving with great speed to the other side.

Bucky pulled his handgun from its holster, firing it towards her through the grates of the catwalk, the bullets grazing her cheek and fingers.

"Ow."

Steve charged at Bucky, forcing him backwards and continuing to try and distract him from Rhea below. Bucky fired at Steve, but Steve blocked all his shots with his shield, moving him further and further back towards the pylon. Rhea made it to the control centre, but now had to make her way back up to access it, from the same catwalk that Steve and Bucky were fighting on. Bucky turned and fired at her again, but she ducked around the other side of the control pylon in an effort to avoid his shots fired.

Steve tried to barge at him with his shield, but Bucky blocked, before trying to punch him back with his metal arm, the two metal weapons clashing with a resounding sound that had Rhea wincing in pain from the decibels.

Bucky tried firing on Steve again, but Steve knocked away his shooting hand. Bucky spun away, firing again, but this time aiming lower, the bullets grazed Steve's side and caused him to hiss with pain.

"Steve?" Rhea called, hearing the sound and peering around the corner. Bucky fired at her again and she moved her face just enough to avoid the bullet going through her cheek, although she felt the burn as it passed her face by.

"Get the chip in!"

"Well, if I could access the control pylon and the targeting blades, I might!" she exclaimed back in exasperation.

"I'm working on it!" he shouted, before charging at Bucky again. This time he hit Bucky with enough force to send him flying backwards and he crashed into the control pylon heavily, dropping his handgun in the process.

Bucky glared icily at Steve, before getting back to his feet and pulling a knife from his belt.

"I'm coming up," Rhea called just as Bucky lunged at him again. He blocked a punch with his arm, before using his shield to try and bat away his knife hand. Bucky kicked out at his head, and Steve stepped back in an effort to avoid it, but Bucky was able to feint, dropping his kick into Steve's knee and causing him to fall to his knees, before Bucky moved to try and punch at him. Steve was quick to bring his shield back up for protection, shoving back at Bucky with it and causing him to stumble backwards from the force.

Rhea jumped up from below then, grabbing Bucky's arm as he tried to steady himself on the railing of the catwalk. He reacted, trying to punch at her with his metal arm, but she ducked low, using both her feet and his own strength to hold her weight up as she kicked his legs out from under him.

She caught the railing again as he fell to the catwalk, swinging below it before swinging back up onto it opposite him and turning to face him.

Steve ran to the pylon, activating the targeting blade system which rose up from within the pylon. He reached inside, pulling one of the targeting chips out, before turning back to look towards Bucky and Rhea.

Bucky charged at Rhea again, and she was quick to dodge his knife as he sliced at her. She stepped back several times in an effort to avoid the sharp blade, before she had to block a following punch and then a kick. He took her by surprise, bringing around an elbow and catching her on the cheek, snapping her head back slightly, it was enough opportunity to let him slash across her neck with the knife.

"Rhea!" Steve exclaimed, horrified as he saw the dark coloured liquid begin to appear from her neck, fearing the worst. Instead, Rhea misted suddenly, reappearing behind Bucky and grabbing him by his arm and flipping him over her back as if he were nothing at all. Bucky landed heavily and Rhea stepped back, glancing back to Steve. "Is it ready?" The blood wasn't flowing quickly, and she seemed nonplussed by the fact her neck was quite obviously, sliced open.

Steve motioned towards the pylon, where the targeting system was now ready. She moved to step towards him, but Bucky reached out, grabbing her around the ankle and yanking her back towards him. She tried to steady herself by grabbing onto the railings of the catwalk, as Bucky leapt to his feet and continuing to try and pull her back.

Steve ran forward, as Rhea spun, aiming a kick at Bucky's head, but he ducked, aiming his own kick at her chest. She was thrown backwards, flying past Steve and landing heavily at the base of the pylon.

"Well, I made it to the pylon," she muttered, moving to get up. Steve swung his shield at Bucky repeatedly, who ducked or blocked his attacks, moving to return with his own punches or kicks. Steve tried to hit at Bucky with the edge of the shield, hoping he might be able to daze him enough to give himself an opening, but Bucky caught it with his metal arm, the hydraulics and metal panels shifting slightly in an effort to hold Steve's super strength at bay.

Steve pulled his shield back suddenly, catching Bucky by surprise and elbowing him in the face, before jumping up and kicking out at him with two feet, forcing him back. Steve looked back to Rhea, seeing her struggling back to her feet finally, and reach into her belt, pulling the last chip out.

He heard Bucky charging towards him again, turning to take him on but was hit with Bucky's full force, knocking him back slightly.

As Steve tried to maintain his balance, Bucky threw his knife past Steve.

"Rhea!" Steve shouted, trying to warn her and she turned her head as she lifted the chip up to place it into the targeting blade system. It was as if everything was moving in slow motion for him, Rhea's head snapping to look towards him, the knife embedding into her hand and causing her to drop the chip. She tried to recollect it, but the chip slipped through her fingers and dropped to the catwalk, before bouncing and disappearing over the edge, even as Rhea tried to dive to catch it.

"Well, shit," she murmured, standing back up and pulling Bucky's knife from her hand.

* * *

Rhea grit her teeth as she pulled the knife from her hand. She may have been dead for all intents and purposes, but it still hurt to pull a serrated tactical knife out of her hand. Bucky was still trying to fight Steve, so she tossed the knife aside and looked down below.

With her sharp eyes, she could see the chip had fallen down to one of the lower levels and was resting at the bottom of the control centre pylon, on one of the server beams below. She began climbing her way down, jumping down level by level easily.

She jumped the last twenty metres or so to the bottom of the pylon, quickly moving towards the chip resting at the edge of the server beam. As she was almost there, she heard the sound of bones breaking and impacts just above her and looked up. She saw Steve and The Winter Soldier, both falling from the catwalk some two hundred metres above her.

"Steve!" she shouted, and quickly moved to try and catch him, forgetting about the chip. She ran, and jumped up, catching Steve and both crashed down to the ground, although she took most of the brunt of the fall. She felt a few of her ribs break and possibly her collar bone.

"Rhea, are you okay?" he asked, rolling over to check on her.

"Sam's right, you are heavier than you look," she replied, coughing and holding her side. She looked towards where the chip had been. "Steve, the chip…"

The HYDRA assassin, who had landed towards the edge of the beam they were standing on, was between them and the chip. He was slowly getting back onto his feet.

Steve looked towards him, before getting back onto his feet and helping Rhea up. "Can you get back up there?" he asked, holding her as if she was fragile.

"Of course," she replied, wincing as she felt her bones beginning to meld themselves back together.

"I'll get the chip, you get back up there and get ready to place it."

She frowned and looked at him. "Are you sure I shouldn't be the one to get it?" she asked incredulously. "I know what needs to be done here."

"No, he's my friend. I'll take care of him."

"Was, Steve…come on…"

"Get up there, get ready." He looked at her imploringly, causing her to narrow her eyes at him for a moment.

She huffed, shaking her head. "Fine, but first sign of trouble, and I will be back down here," she said emphasizing on the 'will'.

"I'll be fine," he said, moving to face off with The Winter Soldier.

She shook her head once more, before turning and beginning to climb.

Steve ran at Bucky, trying to hit him with his shield, but Bucky managed to bat it away, causing Steve to lose his grip on it and the shield tumble down to the very bottom of the carrier below. They grappled with each other, Steve trying to throw Bucky, but Bucky backhanded him with his metal arm, the force behind the impact causing him to flip backwards and land heavily onto his back.

The slope of the beam caused Steve to start sliding down towards the end of the server beam, where the chip was lying. He grabbed it as he slid by, before working to stop himself. Bucky slid down towards him, and both got to their feet, beginning to trade blows again.

He blocked all of Bucky's punches, but he felt the impact of each one. Bucky was much stronger than he was seventy years ago, with the extra hydraulics in his metal arm causing Steve's forearms to sting as they took the brunt of the impact.

Steve still held the chip in his hand as he tried to punch at Bucky, but the HYDRA assassin caught his wrist, twisting it painfully and causing Steve to drop the chip, it bounced off the server beam and down into the bottom of the carrier far below.

Without the chip in his hand, Steve was able to retaliate more effectively, bringing his fist up into Bucky's face and causing his head to snap back sharply, before kicking out at him and knocking him off the beam and down to the glass dome below. Steve jumped to his feet and leapt down to retrieve the chip.

He looked around wildly, trying to find it, until he spotted it about fifty metres away from him. He quickly ran to retrieve it, but before he could reach it, he felt a hard impact against his back, knocking him down.

He rolled to his feet, hearing his shield fall to the ground beside him. Bucky had used his own shield against him. He looked up and saw Bucky had also found his own handgun again, quickly aiming it at him. Steve was quick to grab his shield and bring it up to protect himself as Bucky fired, the bullets harmlessly ricocheting off the Vibranium metal until all his bullets were spent.

Steve stood and threw the shield at Bucky, but he was able to punch it out of the way, before pulling another knife from his belt and running towards his foe. Steve tried to avoid the blade, stepping back and trying to catch his arm as he swung the blade down towards him, but Bucky pushed down with his metal arm too, and the blade embedded into Steve's shoulder, making him scream out in pain.

Steve regathered his strength, forcing his head forwards into Bucky's face, not once, but twice, before Bucky shoved him away and into the bulkhead of the carrier roughly. He turned and made his way towards the chip, while Steve pulled the knife from his shoulder.

He turned, running back towards Bucky as the HYDRA assassin dove for the chip, picking it up, but Steve grabbed Bucky by the throat and lifted him high into the air, before throwing him down hard onto the heavy duty glass floor of the carrier and putting him into an arm lock.

"Drop it!" Steve shouted, applying pressure to Bucky's normal arm as the assassin tried to reach for him with his metal arm, to no avail as Steve just twisted it further. "Drop it!" Finally, there was a sickening crack and Bucky shouted in pain, but still refused to release the chip.

Steve released Bucky's now broken arm, before switching his hold on him into a headlock and applying pressure to his airways. Bucky squirmed in the hold, trying to move his metal arm up to grab at Steve's grip, but Steve locked the metal arm down with his leg, continuing to put pressure on Bucky's airway.

Bucky still strained against Steve, trying to twist out of the headlock, but slowly, his strength seemed to ebb, and his squirming became sluggish.

Finally, as he lost consciousness, Bucky released the chip from his hand. Steve let him go, breathless after the effort of holding up against Bucky's super strength, but was quick to grab the chip and make a run for it. He had already lost a lot of time.

* * *

**xo**

**Krayzee**


	11. No Choice

**Well, I've made my decision on where this fic will go after this saga.**

**Loving writing this little fic, although gees I'm hanging out for the 'Falcon and The Winter Soldier' show to start, need my Bucky fix! **

**Thanks to everyone who has followed in the last couple of weeks. Don't forget, if you haven't read 'Silent Heart', which is the precursor to this fic, you really should. It really sets the foundation for the relationship amongst the characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**No Choice**

"One minute," Maria's voice came over the comms. Steve desperately worked to get back up to the control centre, flipping himself back up onto the server beam. He began running to climb the last part up to the pylon, when he felt a sharp pain shoot through his left thigh, causing him to collapse onto the ground.

He looked back to see Bucky had regained consciousness and had shot at him, but Steve quickly clambered back onto his feet and ran for the pylon, starting to climb. Another shot was fired, hitting him in the right shoulder.

"Thirty seconds, cap," Maria warned, as Rhea peered over the edge. She glanced down to Bucky, her eyes narrowing.

"God damn it," Rhea misted from her position.

"Rhea, no!" Steve shouted, he turned his head slightly and saw Rhea reappear in front of Bucky. The Winter Soldier moved to readjust his aim, striking out at her, but she misted again, reappearing beside him and kicking the gun from his hand.

Steve clenched his jaw, but continued climbing, working his way back up to the control centre and the targeting blades. He had a job to do now, he just had to hope that Rhea would respect his wishes and not kill Bucky, or that Bucky would be strong enough to stop her.

Down below, Rhea continued to try and stop Bucky. "You were always slower than most," she said, as she dodged his metal arm. She kicked out at him, knocking him back a step before jumping up and latching onto him with her legs. She threw her weight down, causing Bucky to flip forwards and land heavily on his back, while she landed back on her feet. Bucky glared back at her, before turning to look to his right, where his gun had fallen. She had moved him closer to his weapon.

"Shit."

Above, Steve finally made it to the targeting blades.

"Stand by," he said through comms as he pulled the chip from his belt. "Charlie..." There was the sound of a gunshot and Steve froze for a moment, not moving as the direction of the shot was towards him. He felt no more pain than before, but he was certain he had heard the shot fired in his direction.

He placed the chip into the targeting blade. "Lock."

"Okay, Cap, get out of there," Maria ordered, as her hands began to fly across the control panel in front of her.

Steve finally turned around, to find Rhea standing behind him, panting heavily, and her eyes fluttering slightly, like she was in great pain. "Rhea?" He looked past her, to see that Bucky had indeed fired in his direction.

She offered him a pained smile. "I told you, my primary mission is to make sure you're safe." She collapsed to a knee and Steve hurried to her side as she began to fall forward.

* * *

He caught her in his arms as she seemed to lose consciousness, collapsing himself as the wound in his thigh continued to bleed profusely. As he held her, he noticed the dark blood on his hand that supported the back of her head. He pulled his hand away, laying her head on his leg and looking at his hand closely, the blood appeared congealed and didn't flow as easily as his own. Movement caught his eye and he glanced down at Bucky, who lowered his aim, staring up coldly at the pair.

He looked out towards the other Helicarriers, that were continuing to rise into the sky. Steve began to try and get to his feet, trying to lift Rhea with him, but she was dead weight making it difficult with his injuries. "And you say I'm heavy," he murmured. He raised his wrist to his mouth, sighing. "Fire now."

"But, Steve..." Maria tried to object, her hand frozen above the initiate button on the control panel.

"Do it! Do it now!" He continued to his feet and began to slowly walk along the catwalk with Rhea in his arms.

Reluctantly, Hill closed her eyes and pressed the button, causing the Helicarriers to reacquire new targets and shift their trajectories, before opening fire on each other.

Steve was thrown about, trying to steady himself on the catwalk while still holding Rhea's still body. There were explosions all around them and further ahead several pieces of the carrier's bulkhead began to collapse from their holdings, crashing down to the bottom of the carrier. He heard a scream of pain as he was knocked off his feet, Rhea falling to the catwalk too. He looked over the edge and saw Bucky was being crushed by one of the collapsing bulkheads beams.

Steve picked Rhea up again, now moving to find his way down below towards Bucky. He looked over the edge of the catwalk he was on. "Sorry, Rhea," he muttered, before slinging her across his shoulders and dropping himself down to the bottom of the carrier. It was a bad landing, Rhea skittling across the floor as Steve's leg collapsed and made him fall. He saw his shield off to the side and picked it up, before dragging Rhea into a safer position away from collapsing parts of debris. He propped her up against one of the outer bulkheads, running his hand along her face and offering an apologetic smile. "I know you're going to tell me off for this."

He then turned and carefully made his way towards Bucky, who was now straining to push against the heavy steel beam that was crushing him. Steve looked from Bucky to the beam across him, before moving towards it. He put all his strength into it, lifting it just enough for Bucky to slide out.

Bucky pulled himself up, struggling to get back onto his feet as Steve lowered the beam, turning to face his old friend. "You know me."

The HYDRA assassin lashed out at him in anger, punching him with his metal arm. "No, I don't!" he shouted, the effort of hitting Steve causing him to fall to a knee.

Steve got back to his feet, struggling to keep his balance as the Helicarrier they were on began to speed towards the ground. "Bucky, you've known me your whole life."

Bucky appeared confused, looking away from Steve as he seemed to try and process what Steve was saying to him. He lashed out again, hitting Steve again and causing Steve to fall backwards, onto the pile of debris that had crashed down onto Bucky earlier. The Winter Soldier fell to a knee from the effort.

Steve tried to clamber back to his feet again, looking at Bucky. "Your name is James Buchanan Barnes."

"Shut up!" Bucky swung his arm at Steve again, knocking him back again and Steve sprawled on the ground, tasting blood in his mouth. He got to his feet as did Bucky, glaring at him angrily.

Steve reached up, removing his helmet and looking back at his friend. "I'm not gonna fight you." He dropped his shield, the Vibranium weapon dropping out of the Helicarrier through a hole in the hull and disappearing down into the Potomac below. He looked back into the face of the man he had known his whole life. "You're my friend."

Bucky looked back at him for a moment, both of them breathless as their wounds were starting to take their toll on their bodies. Finally, his face contorted into anger and he charged at Steve tackling him and throwing him into the ground with great force. He pinned him to the ground.

"You're my mission." He began to mercilessly punch Steve repeatedly across the face, his face becoming bruised and bloody quickly. Still, Steve refused to fight back as Bucky continued to punch at him multiple times, shouting as he did so. "You're my mission!" Bucky's punches began to slow, their impact becoming less forceful and he seemed to hesitate, holding his fist up as if to punch Steve again, but something seemed to be trying to stop him.

Steve looked back up at him, not moving to stop him. "Then finish it." Bucky stared down at him, still hesitating to finish the job. "Cause I'm with you to the end of the line."

* * *

The Asset froze, his fist raised and ready to punch, but his eyes were wide as he stared down at the soldier's bruised and battered face. Something about his words were causing his mind to suddenly race and he felt pain there, like something was trying to force its way to the forefront and override the mission that he had been given.

His fist lowered ever so slightly as he continued to stare down at the face of the soldier he had been ordered to kill.

Suddenly, his arm was grabbed from behind and he was pulled back roughly, and thrown several metres away, pain registering in the arm that had previously been broken by the soldier. He tried to get back to his feet, but someone was atop of him quicker than he could move, their leg pressing down on his metal arm and preventing him from moving it.

"I'm sorry, Bucky," the female's voice said as she peered down at him. As he glared back up at her, her eyes seemed familiar to him. They were brown, with a strange red ring around the edges, her face was pale and she had blood staining her skin. Everything about her seemed to offer a strange sense of familiarity. "I know I said I would never do this, but if Steve is going to kill himself to save you, then I've got no choice."

He tried to squirm free from the woman's hold, but she was far stronger than she looked, she pulled her gloves from her hands, before clenching her jaw and reaching down for his face. "Please forgive me, Bucky."

Her hands were ice cold as her fingers touched his face, but as soon as they made contact it was as if ice had been poured all over his body and his brain was being put through a blender. Multiple scenes flashed through his mind, one after the other, without a break between, causing them to become a jumble.

He tried to struggle against her grip on him, but she kept him pinned to the ground, holding his head in her hands. "It's time…to fix this…"

Another scene appeared in his mind, and everything seemed to stop. He saw the soldier, as a young and small man, stick thin and looking sickly. The man looked depressed as he approached him.

"_Thank you, Buck, but I can get by on my own."_

"_The thing is, you don't have to." He reached out and patted Steve on the shoulder, before squeezing it sympathetically. "I'm with you til the end of the line, pal."_

"Rhea!" the soldier shouted weakly from where he lay, interrupting the memory.

"Shut up, Steve. I'm working," the woman retorted, panting from the effort it seemed. "Let's see if I can't find another one." She clenched her jaw. "This one is going to hurt."

The Asset felt another cold wave flow over him as more scenes flitted through his head, causing him to scream out in pain. It stopped.

_He was walking through a forest along a road. Ahead of him was a small group of men, soldiers. The target was also ahead. He turned back to look at him. _

_He looked beside him, seeing the woman, except she looked different. She was very pale, she wore loose, black clothing, but her clothes were ripped and there were two small white fangs protruding from beneath her top lip. Her eyes looked sunken and she looked sickly, her hair was loose and seemed disheveled, falling across her face._

"_Sarah, are you okay? You don't look too good."_

"_I…" before she could finish answering, she pitched forward, clutching at her stomach and falling to her knees. He was quick to reach across to try and catch her, preventing her from falling to the ground with too much force._

_The target raced over to them, kneeling down beside them._

"_Sarah, what's going on? Are you okay?" he asked, not even acknowledging the target, but focusing on her and trying to touch her shoulder._

"_Get away," she answered breathlessly, knocking away his hand, not looking up at them. "It's not safe."_

"_What's not safe?" the target asked, reaching forwards and trying to sit the woman up, but she maintained her position, moving her hands to the ground. He noted that she clawed at the ground, as if she was in great pain or fighting something. "Are you hurt?"_

"_You need…to…get…away…from me…" she nearly growled._

_He shared a look with the target, and they seemed to share the same feelings. "Sarah," he said soothingly, trying to look into her face that was hidden by her loose hair. "We can help you." He squeezed her shoulder. "Whatever's wrong, we can find a way to help you."_

_Her face shot up and he could see her face clearly now. Her eyes were glowing red and the white teeth he had seen earlier were much more pronounced and quite clearly appeared to be fangs. "You can't…" she breathed. "I need blood, you have to get away from me before the blood lust takes over."_

_He and the target shared a look, before he looked back to the woman he had called Sarah. "How long do we have?" he asked._

"_Maybe half an hour, if that. I can smell your blood, I can hear it, pumping through your veins. It's not…good." She gulped slightly, looking back to the ground._

_The woman and the target seemed to back and forth for a moment, but all The Asset did was watch her, and consider her, and The Asset realised that he felt differently about this woman. This woman had meant something to him._

_Suddenly, he reached forwards and grabbed her, hoisting her to her feet.__ "Come on, the sooner we get you to base, the better."_

_She feebly tried to pull herself from his grasp. "Are you insane? Get away from me!" The target watched for a moment as he struggled with the woman as she tried to push him away, until finally he stepped forward and took her other side. "Wha-"_

"_Bucky's right, the sooner we get you back, the better. Let's move."_

The woman screamed above him as she clung to his face, pain etched across her features.

"Rhea!" the target shouted, trying to roll onto his side.

She stopped screaming and looked down at him, her eyes beginning to glow red as she glared at him. "My…name…is… Sarah Jones…" He stared back up at her, as she panted breathlessly, before finally pulling her hands away from his face. She looked down at him, breathing heavily shifting herself so she was no longer pinning him to the ground, although she was still sat atop of him. "And you were the first of the Howling Commandos to trust me. Trust me, again."

* * *

There was a crash as a piece of the Helicarrier came crashing down from above them. Rhea looked up, before looking to where Steve was struggling to move, the blood loss clearly affecting him.

She released The Winter Soldier, using her speed to get to Steve and try and hoist him away. She could feel her body was beginning to suffer from exertion and a lack of the necessary nutrients, as her movements were becoming sluggish and strained.

She tried to pull Steve to safety, but the debris from above crashed down onto them, and broke through the hull, sending Steve and Rhea crashing towards the Potomac below. Rhea tried to catch onto Steve and a ledge, but was hit by falling debris, everything going black as she hit the surface of the river below.

"_Look, I wanted to apologise for my behaviour at the bar…" Bucky murmured, looking remorseful and struggling to meet her gaze. "I know I put you in a difficult and dangerous situation, but I saw him grab you and it just made me…" he trailed off, clenching his hands into fists._

_Sarah watched him thoughtfully, listening to his heartbeat. She had never thought Bucky's protective instincts would be so pronounced, she had heard Steve's stories once or twice, but never thought they might extend to her. "Did that really make you that angry?"_

_He nodded. "Of course. You're one of us, and I wanted to protect you. I may have forgotten for the moment that you're not some helpless dame."_

The edges of the memory began to redden, and she felt like her throat was on fire. Her eyes slowly opened, and she could smell the blood around her. Fresh blood, still warm.

She was floating, it seemed, although not on water. She was floating over ground. She strained to open her eyes, her head ached something terrible, but it wasn't enough to dull the thirst she was beginning to suffer.

She looked up, seeing the metal arm, black uniform and long brown shaggy hair that she knew well.

"Ugh," she groaned, beginning to try and move. It seemed her movement startled The Asset, and he looked down in alarm, stopping and lowering her to the ground. She was quick to move, shooting to a crouch and eyeing The Winter Soldier. The smell of blood wafted from him, but she could also smell it coming from further behind him. She glanced over his shoulder and saw Steve lying further up the bank of the river.

She furrowed her brow, before glancing back to The Asset. "Did you…rescue us?"

Rhea's first instinct was usually to look at a man's chest to gauge their intent or stress level. This time, she was compelled to look at his eyes. The familiar stormy blue eyes she knew seventy years ago stared back at her, but again, they were different.

It wasn't a coldness that she noticed this time, nor was there warmth.

There was fear. Confusion.

"Bucky…" she whispered, realising she was now talking to what was left of the man she knew.

His eyes went wide at the name, and he quickly looked down. "I'm sorry."

She eyed him for a moment. "You've said that before." He glanced up at her through his lashes, his wet hair dropping down his forehead. "Remember?"

He shook his head. She huffed, before moving to take a step towards him, but suddenly, the thirst reared its head again and she crumpled to the ground. "Gah!" She clutched at her stomach, the pain beginning to call to her inner predator to feed.

Bucky stared at her for a moment. "Sarah…"

"Go, Bucky… just go." She began to fiddle around the front of her armour, trying to pull the zip down and grab the necklace around her neck. She reached into her belt and pulled out a small bubble vial, the iridescent liquid moving as she lifted it to try and drop it into the bar on her necklace.

Another wave of cramps hit her, causing her to drop the vial, and clutch at the ground in an effort to control the predator. "Christ."

Suddenly, a metal hand reached down and carefully picked up the vial, analysing it. He knelt down beside Rhea, looking at the necklace that now dangled freely from her armour. Rhea could smell Bucky's blood as it flowed freely from his open wounds, and the predator within her craved to taste it. His blood was special, there was extra components within his blood, she could smell them.

Her fangs had grown to full length now, and she was salivating. She was fighting as best she could, but she was losing.

She turned and looked at him, hearing his pulse as the blood pumped through his veins, a malevolent smirk playing on her lips. Bucky's eyes narrowed at her, and he took a step back, but it was too late. Rhea leapt at him, her hands grasping at him, but he punched at her with his metal arm, causing her to be knocked down to the ground. It wasn't enough to stop her though, she charged at him again, on all fours. He braced himself for her impact, but she slid along the ground, slipping between his legs and latching onto one as she passed. She then began climbing up his body, her claws embedding into his flesh and causing more blood to flow.

She used her legs to anchor herself onto his back and opened her mouth, her fangs protruding as she worked up to biting him, but he was quick to grab her about the face with his metal hand, ripping her from his back and throwing her roughly to the ground.

She hissed and began trying to claw back at him, but she couldn't get a grip on the shiny metal plates of his arm, her nails scratching along the surface and finding no traction there. His brow furrowed as he stared down at her, a pained look on his face. "Sarah…"

"Feed me!" she growled, screaming angrily as she continued to try and get out of the grip of his metal hand. He looked from her to the vial he still held in his other hand. He narrowed his eyes, before they went wide and then he quickly lifted her high into the air using his metal arm by her throat. She hissed again and tried to kick out at him, but he was quick to throw her into a large tree.

She was dazed by the impact, sliding to the ground, but landing on her feet. She looked up in time to see him charge at her, shoving her front against the tree roughly, before using his flesh arm, which was now bleeding profusely, to attempt to pin her against the tree.

The smell of blood drove her mad, and she fought madly to try and twist her body around so she might be able bite into his bleeding arm. She howled loudly, angrily even, at not being allowed to feed.

He shoved a knee into her back, applying heavy pressure, before using his flesh hand to pull her head back by her hair. She hissed angrily, turning her head slightly to try and bite at him, as her hands scratched at his hand that held her hair. Before she could, he clasped his metal hand over her mouth, his face determined and she felt something small, almost like a long pill, slipped over her tongue. Her first reaction was to bite down, and she felt the item crumble in her mouth, followed by the familiar taste of the solution seeping onto her tongue. She swallowed hungrily, and felt the solution flow down her throat, almost immediately sending a cold chill throughout her.

He released her and stepped back, causing her to fall to the ground on her hands and knees, her body beginning to fight against the solution that was now making its way through her system, quelling the monster within. Her breathing grew ragged as her body fought against the artificial nutrients and tried to stop the formula from doing its job. She had never been this far gone before using the solution.

She turned her head slightly and watched as Bucky limped away, before she felt a wave of unconsciousness take over her.

* * *

**The next chapter will be the last one for this fic, before I move onto the next saga.**

**xo**

**Krayzee**


	12. Trust

**This is it! Final chapter for Bleeding Heart.**

**The next saga will be launched next month, so be sure to hit that follow button if you want to keep following Sarah's journey.**

**Thanks for following everyone**

**Enjoy**

**xo**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

**Trust**

Steve heard a song playing, it wasn't one he was familiar with, nothing like the music he used to listen to in the 40s. He opened his eyes slowly, only able to open them for a second or two, the light hurting them, making hi blink several times in an effort to try and adapt. He noticed a familiar figure seated on a chair to his right.

"On your left," he murmured, his voice barely audible. Sam turned to look at Steve, smiling when he saw him try to open his eyes again. One of Steve's eyes would not open more than a few millimetres, obviously sustaining a fair bit of damage during his fight with Bucky. "Where's Rhea?"

"Sarah is fine," came a familiar voice. She appeared to his right, stepping into his view. He looked at her, puzzled at the use of her original name. "No point hiding anymore."

Steve offered a small smile. She looked fine, no scars or injuries to be seen. "How you been, Sarah?"

"Just the usual, trying to save you from yourself."

"What happened up there?" Sam asked, leaning forwards and looking curiously between the two.

Sarah and Steve exchanged a look, before both smiled knowingly.

Steve sat up in his bed, looking at Sarah who sat on the end of his bed. Sam had gone to check in with Natasha who was being forced to handle a lot of press and government interest after dumping all the information onto the internet.

She was wearing a pair of jeans, a white singlet with a black jacket over the top, her jet-black hair pulled back into a ponytail. "So, how was he?"

"What's left of him, is in control, for now. I didn't have enough time to go through the programming and remove it, it's too complex for someone like me who has never honed those skills," she explained ruefully. Steve recalled seeing her finally use the full force of her powers on Bucky, trying to save the man that used to be his best friend. "I'm sorry, but I did what I could. I just hope he will forgive me for the pain I had to put him through to do it."

"What do you mean?" Steve asked, concerned at the thought of his friend in pain.

"To find the memories I needed, I had to bring every memory he had before then out. That kind of overload, when you've done the things that he has done, would destroy a normal man."

Steve sucked in a deep breath. "So…you saw…" he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

"Everything, and everyone," she answered in resignation. "That's why I hope he will forgive me. It was even painful for me at times, there was so much…" she trailed off again, her gaze dropping to her hands, which she clenched into fists.

Steve reached forward, touching her arm, being careful not to touch her bare skin. She jumped slightly, but she didn't react angrily like she might have in the past. "We will find him, and we will make sure he knows you didn't want to hurt him." She bit her bottom lip, and Steve couldn't help but wonder if there was something else she wasn't telling him. "Sarah?"

"He stopped me." Steve furrowed his brow and looked at her in confusion. "I was going into blood lust, I was going to take his blood. He stopped me, he picked up the vial, and made me drink it." Steve's heart soared as he realised his friend was definitely still in there. Sarah frowned at him. "You don't understand, Steve. I was going to drink his blood, I wanted to hurt him. I did hurt him!"

Steve frowned then, staring at Sarah. "How did he know how to stop you?"

She stared at him for a moment, appearing dumbstruck. "I don't know, I guess maybe he put two and two together when I pulled out the necklace and vial?"

Steve wasn't convinced, if it hadn't been for Sarah telling him about the vial, he would never have known about it. "That doesn't make you a bad person, Sarah."

"No, not at all…just a monster in human clothing." Steve looked at her pointedly, making her roll her eyes. She sighed. "Just hurry up and get better, okay?"

"Are you going to go looking for him?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow as she stood up.

She raised her own eyebrows in surprise, evidently, not expecting Steve to ask her. "I wasn't planning on it, he knows where we are."

"He might need help."

"We are not the safest place for him right now, Steve."

He sighed. She was right, yet again. They had attracted a lot of attention with the data dump about SHIELD and HYDRA. Natasha had even found the 'ghost stories' about both Sarah and Bucky on both sides. She patted him on the hand, her icy fingers sending a shiver up his arm. "Don't worry, we will help him when he needs it." She offered him a warm smile, a bright contrast to the icy feel of her fingers, before turning and leaving the room.

* * *

Steve and Sam stood looked down at a headstone in the cemetery. It was Nick Fury's headstone.

"So, you've experienced this sort of thing before?" a voice asked as footsteps approached them from behind. They turned as Fury stopped in front of the grave, looking down without much expression at all.

"You get used to it," Steve replied with the slightest of smirks drifting across his lips as he watched Fury.

"We've been data-mining HYDRA's files. Looks like a lot of rats didn't go down with the ship," Fury said, looking back at Steve. Sarah appeared behind him, silent as a ghost as she walked towards them. "I'm headed to Europe tonight, wanted to ask if you'd come."

"There's something I gotta do first," Steve answered looking to Sam as Sarah moved to stand on Steve's other side.

"How about you, Wilson? Could use a man with your abilities," Fury asked, looking to Sam.

Sam looked from Fury to Steve, pressing his lips together thoughtfully before looking back to Fury to answer. "I'm more of a soldier than a spy."

Fury sighed, before looking to Sarah, who smirked at him. "I'm not even going to bother asking you, I'm pretty sure I know what the answer would be." She smiled offering the slightest of shrugs as Steve turned to look at her. "Alright then." Steve and Sam shook Fury's hand, while Sarah leant back against a tree to watch the farewells. "Anybody asks for me, tell them they can find me right here." He motioned to the headstone before walking away.

Natasha walked up the hill to join the trio, watching as Fury got into a car and drove away. "You should be honored, that's about as close as he gets to saying thank you."

Steve gave a small laugh, although he was inclined to agree with the Russian. "Not going with him?"

"No."

"Not staying here?" he asked curiously.

"I blew all my covers, I gotta go figure out a new one."

He looked at her pointedly. "That might take a while."

"I'm counting on it," she answered, raising her eyebrows slightly. "That thing you asked for, I called in a few favors from Kiev." Natasha handed him a file, which featured Russian writing on the front, before looking over to Sarah and nodding, no doubt her way of saying goodbye, before looking back to Steve and lowering her voice. "Will you do me a favour? Call that nurse."

Steve glanced at Sarah, who raised an eyebrow, obviously hearing what Natasha had said. "She's not a nurse."

"And you're not a SHIELD agent," Natasha retorted pointedly.

Steve sighed looking up into the trees, wishing the ground might swallow him whole right at that moment. "What was her name again?"

"Sharon. She's nice." Natasha pushed up onto her toes and leant forwards, kissing Steve on the cheek before turning to walk away. "Be careful, Steve. You might not want to pull on that thread," she added, motioning towards the file. Natasha waved to Sarah, who raised a hand in response, before moving towards Steve, as did Sam.

They both peered over his shoulder as he opened the file, revealing details of The Winter Soldier, including training, experimentation and brainwashing. Steve felt his heart seem to race as he quickly glossed over the information, every bit more infuriating than the next.

"You're going after him?" Sam asked in surprise.

"You clearly haven't known him for long enough, Sam," Sarah replied with a sigh, looking annoyed. "I told you, Steve, we are not the safest place for him right now."

"He helped us when we needed it."

She pursed her lips, before sighing in resignation. He knew deep down she wanted Bucky back just as badly as he did, maybe even more than he did. She would never admit it, but he was certain that Bucky was special Sarah, because he was the first to help her when she was at her lowest.

"You don't have to come with me," Steve replied, closing the file and looking between the pair.

"I know. When do we start?"

"I think you should leave this to me, Steve," Sarah objected, looking pointedly at him. "Covert and infiltration is more my expertise. You tend to attract attention," she motioned to him.

"And you don't?" he demanded.

She narrowed her eyes slightly. "I was born of the darkness in the world, Steve, it's my home."

"Look, can we just focus on finding intel, and then worry about whose hugging him first?" Sam asked, looking between the two with an amused laugh.

Steve looked at Sam with raised eyebrows, before glancing at Sarah in amusement. She looked horrified.

"Oh, no no no, that is not a thing." The two boys chuckled, while Sarah looked annoying and began to walk away, muttering to herself. "You may have turned me into a real 'bleeding-heart-help-the-world' type, but I draw the line there!"

Sam looked back at Steve. "Man, she grows on you, doesn't she?"

"She sure does." He smiled as she made a rude gesture in their direction, clearly having heard them.

* * *

Sarah leant against a wall, watching the entrance of the Smithsonian. It had been a couple of weeks since the fall of SHIELD and the reveal of HYDRA to the world, and as requested by Steve, she was on the hunt for Bucky.

She still didn't like the idea of trying to bring him in, he was not himself and needed time. But she knew, if she didn't do it, Steve would most likely do something stupid himself, so this was the easiest way to keep him out of trouble.

Finally, she spotted a man approaching the entry to the Smithsonian that stuck out to her. He was of a large build, his broad shoulders standing out in the crowd that was dominated by school children. He wore a hat, pushed down low over his eyes, his long hair also positioned in such a manner to keep his face hidden.

She had a feeling he would show up now, all the school kids would be leaving, and the Smithsonian would be at its quietest just before closing.

Sarah quietly slipped inside behind him, following him at a distance. He seemed cautious, keeping his head down the whole time, and stiffening whenever anyone would brush close to him. She felt bad for him, but she also saw this as a good sign, meaning he was more aware of himself and what was happening around him.

He entered the Captain America exhibit, looking around in awe, but ducking his head again and looking at one of the walls of displays as another group of children walked by, talking loudly and with great excitement about the Captain America exhibit. Sarah didn't make herself as scarce, instead smiling at the children as they walked past and nodding to their teacher, who looked harried as it was. She was never going to pay any attention to a man in a corner.

Once the children had disappeared around a corner, he continued further into the exhibit, finally looking up as he faced the main portion of the exhibit.

Sarah glanced around the room, looking for the cameras, as well as any other museum visitors, before repositioning so she was out of sight. She continued to watch him as he walked around, reading each panel about all their comrades. She saw the smallest of smirks on his face as he read about Dum Dum, most likely the story of how he always seemed to make a fool of himself in front of the camera.

Finally, he turned, and was faced with the lone display about himself. He stared pensively at the display, Sarah watching as his eyes seemed to waver as he read on. He dropped his head once he had finished reading, and Sarah could hear his heartbeat beginning to race.

It took all her willpower not to run out and try to console him, knowing if she did, he would run.

He didn't hang around much longer, taking one last look up at Steve's image, before turning and leaving the exhibit. Sarah considered letting him go, just pretending she had lost him, should Steve decide to ask, but she sighed in resignation. She needed to know herself, that he was okay.

She continued to follow him, being careful to stay well back and just using her sense of smell to her advantage. She didn't need to keep him in her line of sight to keep track of him.

Once she exited the building, bidding goodnight to the elderly security guard, whom she was mildly surprised was still working there as he had been the one on duty when she had stolen Captain America's uniform for him, before looking to her right, where Bucky's scent was leading.

She looked around, before continuing to her left, turning down a laneway that was dark and damp. Once she was in there, she checked her surroundings one more time, before misting.

She sped through the darkness of the streets as the sun disappeared behind the tall buildings of downtown Washington DC, no one paying any mind to the mist that glided along the shadows, barely noticeable to the human eye. The cats and dogs on the other hand…they were going nuts.

Finally, she found her way back to the side street she knew Bucky had entered, reappearing in her true form, and peering out from her hiding spot. She could just see his stooped form further down the side street, and stepped out, continuing to follow him.

He turned, disappearing down an alley and Sarah slowed. The behavior was strange, she knew there was nothing down that alley and it ended in a dead end. She cautiously approached, peering around the corner of the building.

There was no one there, nothing but darkness. She pressed her lips into a thin line and sighed, stepping around the corner. "Bugger." She continued to walk down the alley, using her keen predatory eyes to see if perhaps he was hiding in the shadows.

It wasn't until the wind direction shifted slightly and she picked up his scent again. She turned just in time to catch him by the arm as he tried to grab at her from the shadows. "Careful."

His eyes went wide in alarm, his heart raced, and he tried to pull his arm back sharply, obviously thinking she was playing for a fight. He looked surprised when she released him easily, holding up her hands in surrender.

He narrowed his eyes and glared coldly at her. "Who are you?"

"You know who I am." She felt like she was reciting Steve, but in this instance, at least she knew he recognized her.

Bucky continued to watch her for a moment. "Sarah…?" he murmured, although it sounded like more of a question than a statement.

"Are you okay?" she asked and lowered her hands, not bothering to answer the question. She was more concerned about the injuries she knew he had suffered during their fights in their last encounter.

"Why are you following me?"

"I needed to make sure you were okay, it's the least I could do."

He was quiet for a moment, looking away from her, his eyes appearing to waver, and his heart rate sped up again, as if he was being tormented by something, a memory or maybe the programming he had suffered at the hands of HYDRA. He settled again, before looking back up at her. "What did you do to me?"

She raised her eyebrows in surprise as she listened to his heart rate settle again. She wasn't expecting that question so soon. "I broke through the programming and opened up your memory bank, so to speak. HYDRA was trying to keep your memories locked away to keep you compliant."

His eyes never left her as he seemed to take in her explanation. She listened to his heartbeat; it was solid as a rock. He wasn't scared of her, nor was he reacting to her explanation.

"You know, he wants you to come back?"

"Who?" Bucky demanded.

"Steve."

By Bucky's reaction, you would almost think he had been slapped across the face as he took a step back and looked concerned by the revelation. "I can't." He began to turn away, seemingly planning to run away.

"Wait," she said suddenly, holding her hands up again. She half expected him to ignore her and keep running, but he stopped, glancing back to look at her.

She reached into her pocket slowly, pulling out a small device. It was an emergency beacon, a very small one that was activated simply by pressing a button but would only notify her, no one else. "I don't want to force you to do something you don't want to do. You know that, you know me." She held it out to him. "Take this, and if you need help, I will help you." He eyed the device she held out to him, before looking back up to her meet her gaze. His stormy blue eyes, that she had been so used to seeing warmth in so long ago, showed distrust and fear. "Please, Bucky, it's the least I can do after you trusted me all those years ago, even after you knew what I was."

He furrowed his brow slightly, his eyes wavering again, and Sarah wondered if perhaps he was seeing another memory, but he reached out carefully and took the device, the tips of his fingers brushing hers. She saw him flinch slightly at the touch and couldn't help the pang of disappointment that washed over her. He clearly hadn't forgotten what had happened between them on the Helicarrier.

She offered him a slow nod, before taking a step back. "Get out of the US if you can. I will try and keep Steve and Sam off your trail."

He blinked, looking down at the device in his hand, before turning and hurrying out of the alleyway.

* * *

**And that's it.**

**I hope to see some familiar names pop up when 'Warring Hearts' launches.**

**xo**

**Krayzee**


End file.
